France Asks Airlines to Cut Flights Ahead of Strikes

[SecularMotion]

Source: NY Times

PARIS — As confrontation mounted over a contentious plan to reform the retirement system, the French civil aviation authority said on Monday it was asking airlines to cut flights into French airports by up to 50 percent on Tuesday because of possible strikes by personnel.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency, meanwhile, said strikes at refineries and blockades at fuel depots had forced the authorities to begin drawing on France’s 30-day strategic fuel reserves.

The developments intensified a mood of gathering crisis with labor unions calling for national stoppages on Tuesday as the Senate prepares to finalize a package of reforms to the retirement system proposed by President Nicolas Sarkozy and already approved by the lower National Assembly. The reforms, supposed to help wrest France from the economic doldrums gripping many parts of Europe, would increase the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.

The civil aviation authority said France was asking airline operators to reduce flights into Orly airport outside Paris by 50 percent and by 30 percent at all other airports, raising the strong possibility that transport disruption on the rail network and highways will spread further to the skies.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/world/europe/19france.html?_r=1&hp

[global1]

1. I Wonder If Americans Will Act The Same Way When It's Decided That.....

the retirement age will be increased and SS benefits will be cut or SS will be privatized? I love those French people. They know how to fight for what they want.

[uppityperson]

2. Meanwhile, though yesterday there were assurances there was plenty of fuel, many parts of France run

out of fuel for automobiles and fewer trains are running. This strike is atypical for France as typically they plan the strike ahead and stop for 1 or 2 days a week. That interferes with things but people are able to work around it. Family there is getting concerned about this strike as it is going on longer than any they've seen.