November 2007 strikes in France

[1][2] The strike was over President Nicolas Sarkozy's and Prime Minister François Fillon's attempt to reduce early retirement benefits for 500,000 public employees.

The Sarkozy administration claims the current pension system allows some public sector workers to retire as early as age 50.

"[5] Prime Minister François Fillon attacked the unions for depriving millions of French people "of their fundamental freedom—the freedom of movement and even perhaps to work.

[7] However, some Métro lines experienced fewer disruptions than expected, leading some observers to conclude that support for the strike was not as strong as unions claimed.

However in a short interview granted to the BBC the director claimed these cancellations were due to insufficient customers because of travel difficulties incurred by the strikes.

[citation needed] On 13 November the newspaper Le Figaro (which is owned by Sarkozy supporter Serge Dassault[8]) and the cable news channel LCI reported that a survey found that about 7 out of 10 people said the strikes were unjustified.

[5] Minister of Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing Xavier Bertrand, whose portfolio includes labor relations, held several negotiating sessions with the unions throughout the day on 13 and 14 November.

[10] 20 November marked the 7th day of striking and strikers were joined by other civil servants including teachers, postal workers and newspaper printers.

[11] Air traffic control employees were also on strike, causing delays of 45 minutes on flights from the Parisian airports according to ADP.