Cowlesy
10-21-2010, 09:24 AM
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKaweJDKQowQPSYGbrjxUt43R3JQ?docId=528bfa0f2 dec4bf8a9c7132848ebfc0d
French strike to save 'birthright' of privileges
(AP) – 18 hours ago
MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Battling for benefits is a tradition in the Gilly family, passed from generation to generation — as it is for families across the country. And that goes some way toward explaining why the protests against plans to raise France's retirement age have shown such determination and ferocity.
For Gilly and many other Frenchmen and women, social benefits such as long vacations, state-subsidized health care and early retirement are more than just luxuries: They're seen as a birthright — an essential part of the identity of today's France.
The protest against a government plan to raise the retirement age to 62 has special meaning for five members of the Eric Gilly clan who are demonstrating in the streets of Marseille.
"We want to stop working at 60 because it's something our parents, our grandparents and even our great-grandparents fought for," says Gilly, 50, a union representative at Saint-Pierre Cemetery, the largest in this bustling Mediterranean port city.
"And over the years ... you can see that we're losing everything they fought for. And that's unacceptable."
More @ the link here (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKaweJDKQowQPSYGbrjxUt43R3JQ?docId=528bfa0f2 dec4bf8a9c7132848ebfc0d)
I'm not sure what these people are thinking. It opens a lot of questions for me. I think the 20th century really was the golden age where you could actually get to a date and retire and stop working.
Before then? People, it seemed from reading my family history, simply just worked and worked and worked and hopefully save enough so that you didn't have to work anymore. There was no expectation of some magical force like Government coming to make your life easier. Now it seems like you get to a certain age, and the responsibiilty for your well-being transfers to these redistributionist entity.
France had a very bloody and violent revolution, and I hope it doesn't come to that again.
French strike to save 'birthright' of privileges
(AP) – 18 hours ago
MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Battling for benefits is a tradition in the Gilly family, passed from generation to generation — as it is for families across the country. And that goes some way toward explaining why the protests against plans to raise France's retirement age have shown such determination and ferocity.
For Gilly and many other Frenchmen and women, social benefits such as long vacations, state-subsidized health care and early retirement are more than just luxuries: They're seen as a birthright — an essential part of the identity of today's France.
The protest against a government plan to raise the retirement age to 62 has special meaning for five members of the Eric Gilly clan who are demonstrating in the streets of Marseille.
"We want to stop working at 60 because it's something our parents, our grandparents and even our great-grandparents fought for," says Gilly, 50, a union representative at Saint-Pierre Cemetery, the largest in this bustling Mediterranean port city.
"And over the years ... you can see that we're losing everything they fought for. And that's unacceptable."
More @ the link here (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKaweJDKQowQPSYGbrjxUt43R3JQ?docId=528bfa0f2 dec4bf8a9c7132848ebfc0d)
I'm not sure what these people are thinking. It opens a lot of questions for me. I think the 20th century really was the golden age where you could actually get to a date and retire and stop working.
Before then? People, it seemed from reading my family history, simply just worked and worked and worked and hopefully save enough so that you didn't have to work anymore. There was no expectation of some magical force like Government coming to make your life easier. Now it seems like you get to a certain age, and the responsibiilty for your well-being transfers to these redistributionist entity.
France had a very bloody and violent revolution, and I hope it doesn't come to that again.