This means that the state employs a tremendous number of people to work in the transit industry, which means that when those employees are (justifiably) unhappy with their wages or working conditions, they have the power to bring French transportation to a halt (literally) by going on strike. This happened, for instance, a few weeks ago on Thursday, November 10, when there was a massive strike by the Parisian transportation workers organized by the CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail – General Work Confederation, one of France’s largest unions), who were demanding higher wages commensurate to the recent inflation of the euro. That day, my classes were all either canceled or moved online because no one could get to campus because the public transportation was not functional.
France sometimes has the reputation of having an incredible amount of strikes – the public transportation system does bear witness sometimes to that idea.
