Les grèves the word for strikes in French is a common occurrence and just something I have to adjust to in French culture. French society is based off the idea that if work conditions aren't to ones liking striking is always an option, a frequent option. There have been 4 strikes so far since I have been in Montpellier and 2 of which I experienced today. The first strike which happened a few weeks ago was a strike of all the teachers from Kindergarten to high school in public and private schools. There is a presidential election coming up in May and we have been told there are lots of strikes to come because the President of France, Sarkozy, is cutting 30,000 jobs for teachers in the next year because of the increasing economic crisis. Over the weekend there was a strike of the SNCF, the French rail system, which was great timing for me because it was pretty much the one weekend that I wasn't travelling by train so I wasn't affected. They were striking because one of the train conductors had been assaulted and they were standing on solidarity with him for better protection on the trains.The strikes today were a different story. First, there was a strike on the public transportation in France, so the tram, which I take to school on a daily basis was running but not very frequently and certainly not frequent enough for me to make it to class on time. So I took an hour long walk to the university to make it to class on time today. Although, the walk was quite enjoyable and I got to explore parts of Montpellier that I had not seen before. When I asked one of my teachers what the reason for today's specific strike was he responded, "they haven't striked in awhile and needed a day off." Although I'm sure that is not the reason the tram workers claimed for their strike it does represent the attitude towards work in France which is that less is more.
Finally, the last strike that I experienced today was a hilarious strike in my opinion but nevertheless a strike. In our cafeteria at the university there are different stations, there are lines for chicken, hamburgers, pizza etc. but today there was no pizza because there was a pizza strike. Yes that is right the workers that serve just the pizza in the cafeteria were on strike. I don't know what they were striking about but my friends and I thought it was hilarious. Since there are more strikes to come our program has developed a plan for if our university goes on strike so don't worry parents I will still be getting all my credits even if we don't have our university classes.
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