Strikes

The RATP is the main transit authority in Paris.  Please, say the letters, as the name is not supposed to tell you how the metro smells.


Paris has an awesome public transportation system.  The trains are frequent and stops are close.  The interconnected trains are reasonably fast for how often they run.


When they are running normally.


Every now and then, though, the RATP likes to make you late for things. Also known as going on strike.


Over the last year, it seems there is little reason to strike.  There is no direct correlation between action and cause.  Employment grievance?  Unsafe working conditions?  Thankfully, though numerous, the strikes were “mini” in nature.  Not complete shut downs, just minor inconveniences.  Less trains, more crowding, but otherwise not increasing travel time by too much.


But still, very often, the strike seemed for the sake of having a strike – until the most recent set of grievances.


France has a guaranteed retirement age.  This age for RATP workers is currently 60.  The government of France has noticed, however, that like the rest of the world, people in France are living longer.  This is in spite of its inhabitants continued love of cigarettes.


So the government is pushing to save some money by pushing the retirement age past 60.  And by save money, it means not go bankrupt.


One may need a vivid imagination, but can you imagine working past 60?


Horrible.


So the RATP strikes, angering commuters and tourists alike.  Somehow this does not seem to be making France any more able to afford people living well past 80.


So unless a new source of revenue is discovered, or the government reverses all anti-smoking measures, they might have to accept the retirement age of 62.


Until that happens, the rest of us might have to accept alternate routes.