Another day of mobilisations and manif's today(Oct 28th)

The big news is that France's Amsemblee Nationale passed the pension reform bill. Not entirely surpising given the fairly dominant role of the UMP in Parliament. (336 against 233 votes)

With that being said, get ready for more manif's!!! that's right folks, two new days of mobilisation have been planned for today(Oct 28th), as well as November 6th. I will be sure to have some pictures to post on here, as I plan on following them around Laval tomorrow(my idea of a wonderful day of course)

http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2010/10/27/nouvelle-journee-d-action-jeudi-alors-que-la-loi-est-votee_1432127_3224.html#ens_id=1305816

However, the effects will be felt as they were in the last few weeks with almost a third of French gas stations closing, several high school closings, and canceled trains and flights.

For today, the French Trains(SNCF) has assured 6 out of 10 trains and the General Director of Aviation has asked Orly airport to reduce their flights by 50%, as well as a 30% reduction of all other airports in the Metropolitan area.

On a side note, a recent NY Times article cited a very surpising statistic about French unions. Less than 10% of France is unionized, actually closer to 8%.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/world/europe/26unions.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=world

The upcoming presidential elections in France(which is about 18 months from now), should be quite the event to watch. With Sarkozy not budging or compromising with the unions, as well as failing to overcome many political gaffes he made in the last few months( especially the comments about the Roma in France and the subsequent attacks against him from the European Commission President) have all combined to solidify his approval rating at a record low, below 30%.  This pension reform is extremely unpopular and yet cutting France's debt presents an especially integral political move for the UMP and Sarko. They may have the slogan of fiscal responsibility, but their alleged populism? ha. don't think so. The Secretary General of the Socialist Party(and potential candidate in the elections), said it best, as quoted by lemonde, "on ne gagne pas contre les Français" http://www.lemonde.fr/depeches/2010/10/27/retraites-on-ne-gagne-pas-contre-les-francais-previent-aubry_823448_354_43711520.html

alors on verra...