In the coastal city of Marseille, rubbish is piling up on the roadsides. The reason for this is an ongoing strike by the rubbish collectors.
2900 tons of rubbish are said to be lying on the streets, partly reinforced by large amounts of rubbish carried ashore by the wind through the sea. Only last October there was this phenomenon, at the same time there was also a strike of the rubbish collection.
Now the city has to act, because the rubbish is piling up, and in some cases there is a risk of fire. But instead of complying with the demands of the rubbish collectors, the French are now officially hiring truck drivers to collect the rubbish instead. This is a "question of health and safety", according to the mayor of Marseille. The city has even taken the rubbish collectors' union to court against the strike. This is a crackdown on the rubbish collectors, not only are they being defamed in front of the citizens of Marseille, but their strike is being summarily broken with other workers who are contracted by the authorities. This is to make solidarity with the rubbish collectors difficult.
There was also another strike by railway workers in south-west France at the end of January. The unions called a strike because their demands for higher wages and pensions are not being met by the labour buyers.
Workers at theEDF electricity company also went on strike at the end of January after the French government wanted to force the company, in which it owns 84%, to sell a larger amount of electricity at a lower price. The workers at the company made it clear in their strike that in the end the people would have to bear the cost of the electricity price reduction anyway. They also demanded a 10% increase in their wages and pensions, as these had not kept up with inflation over the last ten years.
