The government is banking that anger at the strikers for making life miserable will tip the scales of public opinion in its favor. The continuing strength of the mobilization was not good news for the government of President Emmanuel Macron. And precedent doesn’t favor the government either — in 1995, reforms were withdrawn after three weeks of publicly supported strikes. Most unions have brushed aside pleas for a Christmas “truce,” and the government signaled on Tuesday that it had no intention of backing down. “On this project my determination is total,” Prime Minister Édouard Philippe told the French Parliament on Tuesday.

Source: New York Times December 17, 2019 20:31 UTC