Repeated strikes and demonstrations have dogged France Telecom offices since the government announced last autumn its plan to present its tentative privatisation proposals to Parliament this spring. That exercise has now been put on hold until autumn at the earliest. The strikes began with a well-supported national offensive last October. The latest national effort, on January 25, had a mixed result. The Confederation Generale de Travail reported that, among its members in six French cities, 9.4% participated. Figures for Paris from all of France Telecom’s unions showed a 22.8% participation in the Paris suburbs and 58% in the city’s northern areas. Demonstrations have also multiplied. Organisers estimate 1,000 workers (police say 600), turned out in mid-January for a demonstration in Rouen, while 400 employees occupied the regional offices at Gers and Hautes-Pyrenees a week later. The workers object to the phone operator’s personnel reclassification scheme, which they say prohibits transfers and eliminates their status as public employees. France Telecom denies this. President Marcel Roulet has nevertheless launched a campaign touting the benefits of reform, appointing Martine Chopin, director of the Champagne-Ardenne bureau, to set up conferences on the benefits of competition and employee exchanges to outline the shape of the reform.
