May 06, 2003

Strike

There's a general strike on in Austria today in protest of plans by the conservative christian democrat government to make massive pension cuts. Although the government denies the strikes will affect its plans, strikes in Italy and France have, it is said, recently caused the governments there to withdraw plans for similar, but less-extensive, cuts.

Since there is no public transportation within Vienna today, I left an hour early for work, at 6.30, expecting large traffic jams, but things seemed pretty calm on my way to work. There were a lot more pedestrians, and people on bikes, motorcycles, scooters, in-line skates and anything else along those lines. Traffic was more congested once I reached the city, but that was more a result of simply more cars than any attempts by strikers to block traffic.

Weather is hot and sunny today - the hottest 6 May on record - so I'll go stroll about at lunchtime and see if anything interesting is going on, but so far there is no sign of the chaos everyone was afraid of.

Posted by Mig at May 6, 2003 09:39 AM
Comments

Strikes? You want strikes? Actually, it's quite tame right now here in France - just the teachers again. The kids went back to school on Monday after 2 weeks holiday and, with a single day of classes under their belts, are now off until Friday.

Unfortunately, the teachers' demands are entirely sound and crucial - and it's a far sight better than complacency.

Every time I begin to gripe about this or that strike (except the planes and trains, which are often just nasty - leaving families stranded for days in stations instead of being on a well-deserved vacation), I think of how much worse the lot of the working stiffs would be without that right to fight.

As a freelancer, my regular protests against the system go unnoticed, and are often subject to late charges.

Posted by: Gail Armstrong at May 6, 2003 06:18 PM

oh man, those train strikes really give David a headache, as then he has to drive to work (Le Havre-Vernon is a long commute).

I once told David's grandfather that French people strike all the time, and he enjoys teasing me about it all the time (funny, it took him months to remember that my name is not actually "crime," yet he never forgets my striking comment). however, I do find that some people forget that if you strike all the freaking time, it loses some of its effect. :s

Posted by: kim at May 7, 2003 05:16 AM