AP
PARIS, APRIL 9
The Eiffel Tower closed, many school kids across France had no classes and air traffic controllers were staying off work Thursday in a nationwide day of protests and strikes to air an array of grievances against the government. Thousands of protesters, blowing whistles and waving union banners, were marching in Paris in support of the catch-all movement of private and public sector workers. The movement was likely to increase pressure on the already-unpopular Socialist government of President Francois Hollande.
The demonstrations and strikes in the protest-friendly country follow recent complaints by groups as diverse as doctors and notaries against recent government reforms, and on top of ongoing strikes by French air traffic controllers and workers at the state radio.
The air traffic controllers were holding the second half of a two-day strike, which led to the cancellation of half of flights in and out of France on Thursday. Their walkout, in part over plans to raise their maximum retirement age to 59, was expected to resume in each of the next two weeks. Many European carriers were avoiding French airspace.
Radio France, the state-backed broadcaster, was entering the third week of its walkout to protest budget cuts — and many of its employees were expected to be carrying banners at the Paris protest. The powerful CGT union was among those urging Radio France staffers to join in the march.
Railway workers, health care providers, teachers and energy sector personnel and others honored Thursday's general strike, partially to register discontent against a government reform plan that reduces workplace protections coveted by many employees.
The CGT's Web site laid out 10 of its reasons for employees to stay off the job — such as to end wage stagnation for state workers, demand equal pay for women and men, defend the state-supported health care system and battle the government's so-called "Macron Law" bill that would reduce workplace protections coveted by many French employees.
A spokeswoman for the Eiffel Tower said many employees of the famed Paris landmark took part in solidarity with the overall movement.
