FRENCH CRISIS

Grey River Argus, 11 June 1936, Page 5

FRENCH CRISIS

STRIKERS CLAIM WIN WILL FRANC SUFFER ? Devaluation Indicated RESUMPTION OF WORK. (Aust & N.Z. Cable Assn.) PARIS. June 9. Under tin- National Agreement reached between representatives of the employers and the workers, undi-i direction 'of the new Government, work is now being resumed. The strikers arc- streaming back to work.

Trade unions describe the settlement as the greatest victory in the history of French Labour. They, eonsblor that the income of workers, allowing tor the forty-hour week, will rise on an average bv thirty-five per cent. T’he employers do not share the enthusiasm. and contend the increases will place a heavy burden on French economy. . . AL Blum, the Prime Minister, m the Chamber, tabled Bills for a 40-hour week, holidays of 15 days pay, collective contracts, exemption of war veterans from taxation, and alterations to ceriain decree laws. He asked the Chamber to adopt the procedure by extreme urgency. The Chamber bv a large ma joins, approved the Bills, and adjourned after referring the measures to Commissions. Tliei Bill for Collective Contracts gives public authority to arbitrate in Hie ease of differences between parties respecting the National Agreement, and extends the Agreement to parties not represented in the negotiations on .June 7th. The textilors tolfl AT. Blum they would accept the agreement, but drew the attention of the Government to the necessity for a reduetion in the export tax in order to enable them to defend the markets. Boulogne, shop girls desire the aboliHon of tho order that they must appear for work attractively made up, declaring they are workers, not actresses. BRITISH PRESS VIEWS. (Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.) LONDON. June 9. The “Manchester Guardian’s’’ Paris earrespondent says: Tt is difficult for outsiders to realise the enormous effect of Alondav’s agreement on the working class. 'The truth is Unit the bulk of the employers, for the firs., time have agreed to sign a general agreement with he qualified represenatives of the entire working class patrons. thereby in the eyes of the workers abandoning sacred prerogatives, and placing themselves on a footing of equalitv with the proletariat. The \o-reement, also, has ended a practice wherebv certain employers could openlv refuse to employ Union Labour, Socialists or Communists. devaluation of franc. B RITISII EXP ECT ATI ON. (Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.) LONDON. June 9. “The Times’s” Paris correspondent says; The raising in France of wages to a level more closely approaching the Western European standard, illustrates the danger of trying to achieve social progress in a. country where currency is seriously over-valued. The trade unions have won a sweeping victory, but they have- not got much more than the British working man has received for years. French workers for years have 'been employed in premises which British factory inspectors would not, tolerate. The' wage advance is won onlv after years of constant agitation and sullen acquiescence in a life on a subsistence level. Yet despite the bitterness of the struggle, the strikers maintained perfect, order, sweeping the factories. painting the floors, repairing the plumbing, and even taking up collections for the repair of a plate-glass window, accidentally broken. No outsiders were allowed to intervene, some 170 women strikers in a one-price store renelled with a fire hose a number ot young Fascists, who attempted entry. PLUM’S PROBLEM. WILL HE GO OFF GOLD STANDARD ? PARIS, June 9. 'l’he Premier, M- Blum, has now thy problem of how to reconcile his opposition to devaluation, with the rising costs of production. The strike settlement will necessitate the Eight interests who were formerly biller opponents to devaluation, now becoming the strongest advocates of it. • i „ Ev.m (he Popular Front, is becoming uneasv at M. Blum’s insistence no Hie sanetitv of the- franc. Critics point out that if he rejects devaluation, he must turn to tariffs, turning France into the very totalitarian State, which M. Bluin' was elected to combat. , . AT. Blum, at present, is re-lying on short term borrowing. which has reached the unprecedented totyl ot "SO million sterling. Presumably, he intends to continue borrowing until the- market will lend no longer. CONTROL OF ARMY. GIVEN TO POLITICIANS. PARIS. June 9. The Government announced a significant, reorganisation of the Frenc.i D'efence services, removing consideiablc- control from the military chiefs and vesting it in members of the Cabinet. The Ministry of National Defence is entrusted with the coordination of land, sea and air defenc'- The Supreme War Council is placed under the direction of the Alinister.