This social fall, the executive had not seen it coming so suddenly.
Admittedly, divisive reforms have been announced - unemployment insurance, pensions... - but the full consultation promised to save time.
Inflation worried the authorities, but the billions spent over the past year and the bill to support purchasing power voted last summer to absorb it were to stifle the protest.
It took a strike in the refineries to light the fuse, to wake up the unions enlivened by their showdown with Total.
"It's a crisis that had not been imagined by anyone this summer,"
observes a majority official.
While the government is struggling to restore order in service stations, France will experience a day of blockages on Tuesday.
From transport to education, disruptions are to be expected.
The strike could even be renewed at the SNCF, suggested a Sud-rail official.
The CGT and FO want to mobilize...
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