French Rail Strike

Transport problems continue in France on Friday as record strike enters 30th day
https://www.thelocal.fr/20200103/french ... isruptions

The thing I always wonder about in French rail strikes is that there is always a skeleton service running despite the strike, with notices posted in the stations showing which trains are running. Once I was scheduled to leave Paris for London via Boulogne-Folkestone (pre-Eurostar) and found on the preceding afternoon that some trains were running and that my intended train for the next day had run. The next morning I was assured that if the train showed up on the board it would run; it was on the board, and it ran, although practically empty--evidently any locals who had planned a trip just shrugged and postponed it. The same applies during a Metro strike--there are signs in the stations saying things like Line 2--67% normal service and Line 6--50% normal service. Whether it has to do with different unions I never found out.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:21 pm Whether it has to do with different unions I never found out.

The reason why only around 50% of workers in France go on strike is that there is no regular strike pay through unions in the same sense as in other countries. Unions instead tend to run donation drives during strikes and use that for some limited payout.

Aha--I didn't suspect that. So, there is no bad feeling on the part of workers who stay out--they recognize that the members who show up to work have a financial need to do so?