State restructuring and trade union realignment: The pensions struggle in France

Gordon, Alex; Mathers, Andrew

Abstract

May 2003 saw millions of French workers take to the streets over the issue of pensions, in mobilisations that the financial press presented as a peculiarly French summer ritual (Graham, 2003). Yet a look behind the news shows that the fight over pensions marks an important phase in a fierce and protracted class struggle over the restructuring of the welfare state’a struggle occurring across Europe. Pension reform precipitated a general strike in Greece in 2001, and in 2003 it provoked the first national strike in Austria since 1950. Even staff at the European Commission staged a walkout in May 2003, to protest against cuts in pension entitlement. © 2004, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2004
• Journal: Capital & Class
• Print ISSN: 0309-8168
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-0980
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 9-18
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/030981680408300102
• Keywords: trade union realignment, pensions, France, state restructuring
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1058258
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/030981680408300102
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Mathers was the lead author for this article. The ordering of the names was done on an alphabetic basis.