Strike

So we felt the force of the strikes this morning. I woke up to find that both the schools that I work at are blocked so there's no school today. When I was in Grenoble doors were literally blocked with garbage cans and whatever furniture and movable objects were around. It doesn't seem like the blockage at my schools is quite as forceful nor as grand in scope but there is no school today. We'll see what the future holds because in the last 5 days high school students have become highly involved in the strikes across all of France. Truck drivers joined the strike today and have blocked or made the traffic on highways inch along. This could be a long strike depending on what happens in the next couple of days. The Assemblée Nationale (AN) (similar to our House of Representatives) already voted on retirement reforms while the Sénat (France's upper house of congress similar to the Senate) vote on Tuesday or Wednesday about whether or not they approve the retirement reforms. Depending on what happens in that vote, we'll see what happens in France because if the Sénat passes the reforms it could spell problems for the government because the government has not been popular in recent years and has become extremely unpopular in the last year especially with the retirement reforms. Almost certainly the ruling party will be out during the next elections which might be next year. Thus, the strikes might behave differently than if it was at the beginning of a presidential term because President Sarkozy is seen as inept and in someways a lame duck president. The prime minister has continually stated his support for the reforms as he is in charge of domestic policy while the president is in charge of foreign relations though the president nominates the prime minister. France will run out of gas soon and we will see how that affects the country and politicians decision to take different action. Right now my schools are blocked today I would imagine tomorrow and maybe Wednesday depending on when the Sénat votes and the outcome of the vote. Otherwise I'm doing fine, the strike shouldn't affect my salary as strikes are common place within the French system especially in the education system