French postal strike

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32522, 4 February 1971, Page 11

French postal strike

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) ''A PARIS, February 3. French Post Office workers will start a three-day strike today, calling for improved post and telephone services as well as for higher pay.

The stoppage called by France’s three biggest trade union federations, means that the French capital will temporarily lose its position as a huge sorting centre for mail hit by the British postal strike. During the British strike, hundreds of firms have been sending couriers with their mail every day to Paris to post their letters on to all parts of the world. The French post and telephone system is the target of continual grumbling and the union groups backing the strike in Paris have insisted on the need for new equipment, investment and staff. They also express fears that the Government may be planning to sell off parts of the post office to private firms—something denied by the'Post Office Minister (Mr Robert Galley). Mr Galley’s Ministry is hoping to keep some services going during the strike. But it announced today that it would not handle parcels or some categories of letters during the stoppage, which is due to end on Saturday. The Post Office strike, biggest of a series of postal stoppages over the last year, comes as the Government faces the threat of renewed trouble from two other militant sections of the population—the farmers and small shopkeepers.

Farmers in the south, who claim that it is getting more difficult to sell their produce, have threatened widespread demonstrations on Thursday. Producers of fruit and wine have already attacked trains and lorries bringing produce from Spain and carrying imports of Algerian wine. The leader of the militant small shopkeepers and artisans, Mr Gerard Nicoud, has warned that his followers would do everything possible to disrupt the election campaign for next month's nation-wide municipal elections if their demands for tax and social security reform were not met. French television has also been hit this week by strikes by technical workers, which have interrupted services.