[kj] o/t the french are rioting again.

B. Oliver Sheppard bigblackhair at sbcglobal.net
Mon May 7 07:31:44 EDT 2007


Oh, regarding my previous post in this thread, I mentioned this:


"The French have what I think's an admirable working class sense of
organization and, unlike American workers, don't just sit there, hunker
down, and hope it doesn't hurt too much when bosses or the business
class try to impose austerity measures on them. They actually think they
deserve some vacation every year, should have rights on the job, decent
employment practices, etc."

-- because in the recent GOP debate, GOP Pres. candidate Tommy Thompson,
when asked if employers should have the right to fire someone because
s/he is gay, replied:

“I think that is left up to the individual business…yes.”
(http://suicidegirls.com/news/politics/21201/)


This is typical of the mentality of most US rulers -- bosses should be
little despots if they damn well want to. There was a poll in 2002 or so
that asked the US public if they thought it was illegal for a boss to
fire someone because s/he voted a certain way, or had certain political
views. Overwhelmingly, many Americans thought that would be illegal.
They were wrong; in fact it's perfectly legal to fire someone int he US
because of their political views. The French have a workforce that
doesn't put up as much with this sort of thing -- a good example for us
in the US, actually. Sarkozy wants to do undo this kind of social
contract with France's workers.

-Oliver


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