Labour Strikes (Greves), Paris

When there is a transportation strike in Paris, its effect can be felt for days. I arrived in Paris after the strike was over, yet these were the after effects we were subjected to:
when we arrived from Miami, there were not enough ground staff to guide the plane or take the passengers to immigration building. we waited over 30 minutes before the doors were open. I admired the French passengers since no one complained. The Commandante came over repeatedly to apologize for the ground staff: they couldnt get to work on time because of the running late of trains and the ground transportation was at a crawl.
No one at the Immigration line. the officer looks casually at my passport, no forms to fill, and within seconds I am on the other side of the booth . BUt,
had to wait 45 minutes before the luggage arrives.
so it was 2 hours after arrival that I got to the Le Bus of Air France and there was another wait.
Our flight arrived at 7 30 am and the air france bus to Porte Maillot left at 11 30 am!

so be prepared. I knew the strike was on and it was still going on, I was emotionally prepared for the wait and didnt bother me. Getting a taxi from Port maillot to my destination was also marred by the fact that there were plenty of traffic jams.
But no horns or no shouting or no bullying. The french do it with style.. they realize that without strikes the rich and the powerful will take away the rights of the working class little by little.

If you are not reading Paris newspapers or watching French television, it may sneak up on you! For the tourist, strikes in Paris seem to occur suddenly, like weather changes and may compromise your vacation. On our many trips we have been in several "situations" and describe them herewith (perhaps they will help). On our first European trip 30 yrs ago, we went to the Gare du Nord on an early October morning to take a train to Amsterdam for our flight home 3 days later (this was before TGV and we only had unreserved Eurail tickets). Arriving at the station we found thousands of people milling around, all obviously local. With difficulty we learned that the strike which had begun would not affect international trains, but which trains would go was uncertain. 2 hours later a platform was announced and lots of people massed up. They announced that only international travellers could get on and proceded to check each person before the gate. Due to my wife's good looks (and our un-French attire and luggage) we were pulled out of the line and given assigned seats in the dining car, where we ate and drank all the way to Brussels and beyond. The next strike we experienced occurred when we arrived at Orly and were told our connection to Bordeaux was cancelled (intra-France)! We took a cab to Gare d'Austerlitz and a new TGV got us there faster (and cheaper) than the plane. The last time was when we were scheduled to visit the Louvre for a special lecture with an Elderhostel group. A substitute venue was arranged at the hotel, but we DID have our farewell evening dinner at the Restaurant du Grand Louvre (See Things to Do Tip) because the restaurant was not in sympathy with the strikers. However, we were let in by the guards, who were in sympathy but could not strike! (Note the subject of the strike; obviously restroom tips in a fancy restaurant are bigger. I heard the strikers won?)

Should you happen to see everyone suddenly up and leaving a metro station following an announcement in French on the PA system, chances are you are witnessing one of their periodic strikes (or greves)!!! Once you are out, you will have to find an alternative to the tube. Thankfully Paris is a walker-friendly city! :)

Mrs Thatcher would be turning in her grave (if she was in one) with the power that the public service unions exert in Paris. Barely a month seems to go by without one group or another airing their greivances in public.

A good strike should consist of a bunch of men standing around a warming brazier and shouting 'SCAB' at the the strike breakers. Strikes in Paris are a far more serious affair in a nation that loves a good riot.

Take, for example, what took place on the day the IOC visited to assess the city for it's olympic bid : (from BBC news)

"Much of the Paris metro and bus system was at a standstill, half of all flights to the city's two airports were cancelled or delayed, and post office and government offices were closed."

Have a quike browse on the internet before you go, transport stikes could cause you serious problems, but other services should not affect your visit - who ever heard of waiters going on strike ?

An example/scenario:

- You've dreamed all your life and saved your money to go to Paris:
- now you have (e.g) 1 week to enjoy it.
- Today your plan is to climb the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Ellysees for a classic view and some personal photos of Paris.

Only guess what?

When you get there, you are told the site is CLOSED for the day.. no entrance to stairs, museum, or elevator. All workers are on strike.
Oh well, guess you can just catch this stop next time you come to Paris, right?

How disappointed would you be?



It happens in Paris all the time.
Different workers strike different sites on different days, usually with only about 24 hours notice.

Many strikes of tourist sites in Paris are of a somewhat "wildcat" nature. You can read Pariscope or scan Figaro and Le Monde everyday and hope for some warning, but chances are there was only 24 hours notice, it wasn't even in the local papers, and unless you're fluent in French, you missed it on the news last night, if it was even on the news.

One Answer:

You are paying for a hotel and their services.
Take the extra time to have the desk clerk/concierge call ahead (if your french is good, call them yourself) to the sites you have planned for today BEFORE you leave the hotel in the morning. Most hotel staff I have stayed with in the past, when asked politely, were happy to do this for me.

The good news is, most strikes of the Louvre, St. Chapelle, Orsay, Arc de Triomphe, etc. happen at only one or two places for about one day each.

All you have to do is know ahead of time what sites are closed / on strike before you jump into the Metro, and you can juggle your schedule for today accordingly.

- Orsay closed or on strike today?
- Fine, go to the Louvre or Marmottan instead, save the Orsay for tomorrow.

Don't let French labor issues or other "force majeure" ruin your trip to Paris. Have a flexible agenda, and look/ask before you leave your hotel.

Labor strikes are quite common in Paris and in France, I've read of metro strikes, museum worker strikes and I believe once I even read that the ATM stockers were going on strike (now that's a really specialized union!)

The only one that personally affected us was the gas hauler strike the year we were driving through Normandy. We had rented a non diesel car and drove mostly on the toll road, where it seemed most locals did not drive, so we had no real problem getting gas besides a few lines but those folks with diesel cars were lining up for blocks. And on the way into Paris, the gas haulers had blocked off the entire other side of the road!

What is unusual from an American perspective about European strikes though is that often they are set for a specified period of time, so check the travel boards before you go and then at least you can come up with a contingency plan for things to do, how to get from the airport, etc.

One of the things you will need to be aware of while in Paris are the labor stikes. Labor disputes can interupt everything from Métro service to mail. This was a labor dispute a friend and I came across while roaming the streets of Paris.

On my first visit to Paris, early June 1999, the major museums (The Louvre, Orsay) and would you believe cathedrals (Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle) were on strike! Fortunately, there is so much to see in Paris and it's surroundings, you could never run out of things to do.