I worked as an independent until I was 71, with a very small pension because I started working late, so it also irritates me when people whine over 2 years more, but while it's true that there is a long tradition of the sacred right to strike, the 2-year extension is just the straw that broke the camel's back over a situation that has be…
I worked as an independent until I was 71, with a very small pension because I started working late, so it also irritates me when people whine over 2 years more, but while it's true that there is a long tradition of the sacred right to strike, the 2-year extension is just the straw that broke the camel's back over a situation that has been worsening for years. Government decisions over the past few decades have practically ruined the once-excellent French medical system. At the same time as the gov't demagogues refuse to remunerate GPs correctly (when my deceased GP husband retired in 2009, GPs earned 22 euros for a consultation. The next year, it increased to 23 euros (whoopee!!!), and did not increase further until 2017, when it rose to a princely 25 euros. Now the gov't is offering a magnanimous 1€50 increase. Very difficult for a doctor who wants to give his patients his time to make a living. About 15-20 years ago, the gov't started reducing the permitted entries into medical school, resulting in a gradual decrease in the number of doctors (including specialists) entering into practice. Of course, this helped docs to work more, but is now running them ragged. The pandemic aggravated the situation, and it is now very difficult to get an appointment with anyone within a reasonable delay. The medical system is becoming like the one in the States, where doctors/phys.therapists/ostéopaths/dermatologists/etc. have to practice in large centers with receptionists/secretaries, seeing many patients a day. So that is another aspect. Elsewhere, gov't benefits are being reduced for everyone but the legislators, it seems. So yes, a lot of French people do seem sometimes to demand something for nothing, but there are legitimate complaints. That said, it is annoying when the strikers upset everything. Just yesterday evening, I was stranded all alone in a small train station (NO employees present to inform or help, no other passengers) on my way back from Avignon because my next connection to home simply didn't arrive. Had to scramble to find someone to come and pick me up.
I love your beautiful country and I'm going there in a few months. I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. Like us, your population is aging. We all need more young people to work and pay into the system to support us. Even so for us, we're reluctant to take in immigrants, despite all the energy and innovation they have brought our country.
There's a recent book you should read, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth.
Among the many examples, in 1980, most meat packers were Black, earning good middle class wages. By that decade's end, most were immigrants, toiling for barely above minimum wage, under atrocious conditions, where maimings and amputations were frequent. Similar conditions prevailed in other areas of low/no-skilled work.
The book is solid (296 footnotes), yet well written, covering the relevant academic economic history, black periodicals, statements from black leaders beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose sons were downwardly mobile due to mass immigration (companies would send ships to Europe to bring back white workers so they could fire the black workers, and the same sort of thing goes on today with companies bringing in H1-Bs), and gov't commissions on immigration reform. The latest of these, run by Barbara Jordan, the Black Texas Democrat who made her name on the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate, recommended cutting immigration numbers roughly in half, and strict enforcement of immigration laws, so that Blacks and other American workers could get decent jobs with decent pay.
The book also gives the lie to to the notion there are jobs Americans won't do. the author interviewed laid off poultry workers on the Eastern Shore, who'd been replaced by immigrants. Would they take their old jobs back? No, they told him. with the greatly reduced wages, they'd have to live in their cars, or many to a house.
Companies that need more workers should be raising their wages. Our labor participation rate is still quite low (meaning a lot of unemployed people are not looking for work).
Thank you, Carolyn, for describing, clearly and with ample illustration, the situation in France. Hearing it from someone who has lived through and is struggling to survive the consequences of unwise politics further justifies the French people’s outrage. Wishing for the French people a peaceful and prosperous resolution to these challenges. Be well and safe, mon amie!
Thank Carolyn for this inside look. What you have revealed is that the new plan will ultimately benefit, as usual, affluent white men--people whose work arc remains consistent and who are not troubled by bias, inequities in wages and employment, etc. Plus ça change, c'est plus la même chose, eh?
It's sad that France has devolved to this. I lived there in '65-'66, and attended the 6ieme in the international section of the Lycee de Sevres, and had a wonderful year. In '71, on a visit, my much younger sister had to be flown to Paris from a couple of hundred miles away to have her appendix out (I think one parent flew with her and one stayed whereever they were when this occurred). Everything went smoothly. I had two wonderful bicycle trips in different parts of France in May of '87 and of '89, after the latter trip took the TGV back to Paris from Avignon, and it was a marvel. The only bad part was getting gridlocked on Rue de Rivoli on my bicycle, but a managed to get to another street after about ten minutes, and had a pleasant ride to friends' apartment.
It pains me to hear how bady things are functioning there now.
I worked as an independent until I was 71, with a very small pension because I started working late, so it also irritates me when people whine over 2 years more, but while it's true that there is a long tradition of the sacred right to strike, the 2-year extension is just the straw that broke the camel's back over a situation that has been worsening for years. Government decisions over the past few decades have practically ruined the once-excellent French medical system. At the same time as the gov't demagogues refuse to remunerate GPs correctly (when my deceased GP husband retired in 2009, GPs earned 22 euros for a consultation. The next year, it increased to 23 euros (whoopee!!!), and did not increase further until 2017, when it rose to a princely 25 euros. Now the gov't is offering a magnanimous 1€50 increase. Very difficult for a doctor who wants to give his patients his time to make a living. About 15-20 years ago, the gov't started reducing the permitted entries into medical school, resulting in a gradual decrease in the number of doctors (including specialists) entering into practice. Of course, this helped docs to work more, but is now running them ragged. The pandemic aggravated the situation, and it is now very difficult to get an appointment with anyone within a reasonable delay. The medical system is becoming like the one in the States, where doctors/phys.therapists/ostéopaths/dermatologists/etc. have to practice in large centers with receptionists/secretaries, seeing many patients a day. So that is another aspect. Elsewhere, gov't benefits are being reduced for everyone but the legislators, it seems. So yes, a lot of French people do seem sometimes to demand something for nothing, but there are legitimate complaints. That said, it is annoying when the strikers upset everything. Just yesterday evening, I was stranded all alone in a small train station (NO employees present to inform or help, no other passengers) on my way back from Avignon because my next connection to home simply didn't arrive. Had to scramble to find someone to come and pick me up.
(End of rant! :-) )
I love your beautiful country and I'm going there in a few months. I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. Like us, your population is aging. We all need more young people to work and pay into the system to support us. Even so for us, we're reluctant to take in immigrants, despite all the energy and innovation they have brought our country.
There's a recent book you should read, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth.
Among the many examples, in 1980, most meat packers were Black, earning good middle class wages. By that decade's end, most were immigrants, toiling for barely above minimum wage, under atrocious conditions, where maimings and amputations were frequent. Similar conditions prevailed in other areas of low/no-skilled work.
The book is solid (296 footnotes), yet well written, covering the relevant academic economic history, black periodicals, statements from black leaders beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose sons were downwardly mobile due to mass immigration (companies would send ships to Europe to bring back white workers so they could fire the black workers, and the same sort of thing goes on today with companies bringing in H1-Bs), and gov't commissions on immigration reform. The latest of these, run by Barbara Jordan, the Black Texas Democrat who made her name on the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate, recommended cutting immigration numbers roughly in half, and strict enforcement of immigration laws, so that Blacks and other American workers could get decent jobs with decent pay.
The book also gives the lie to to the notion there are jobs Americans won't do. the author interviewed laid off poultry workers on the Eastern Shore, who'd been replaced by immigrants. Would they take their old jobs back? No, they told him. with the greatly reduced wages, they'd have to live in their cars, or many to a house.
Companies that need more workers should be raising their wages. Our labor participation rate is still quite low (meaning a lot of unemployed people are not looking for work).
Reagan's 80's were a dark era for the middle class, many of whom naively supported the old fool. History repeats itself with Trump's base.
You're not kidding. It still reverberates.
It metastasized.
Thank you, Carolyn, for describing, clearly and with ample illustration, the situation in France. Hearing it from someone who has lived through and is struggling to survive the consequences of unwise politics further justifies the French people’s outrage. Wishing for the French people a peaceful and prosperous resolution to these challenges. Be well and safe, mon amie!
Follow the money; not just specific transactions but the flow throughout society. Who benefits? Who is shafted? And why?
Essential questions for "Liberty and Justice For ALL".
Thank Carolyn for this inside look. What you have revealed is that the new plan will ultimately benefit, as usual, affluent white men--people whose work arc remains consistent and who are not troubled by bias, inequities in wages and employment, etc. Plus ça change, c'est plus la même chose, eh?
It doesn't sound like it's helping anyone except the legislators. Sounds like you're projecting the US onto France.
It's sad that France has devolved to this. I lived there in '65-'66, and attended the 6ieme in the international section of the Lycee de Sevres, and had a wonderful year. In '71, on a visit, my much younger sister had to be flown to Paris from a couple of hundred miles away to have her appendix out (I think one parent flew with her and one stayed whereever they were when this occurred). Everything went smoothly. I had two wonderful bicycle trips in different parts of France in May of '87 and of '89, after the latter trip took the TGV back to Paris from Avignon, and it was a marvel. The only bad part was getting gridlocked on Rue de Rivoli on my bicycle, but a managed to get to another street after about ten minutes, and had a pleasant ride to friends' apartment.
It pains me to hear how bady things are functioning there now.