The United States shaken by a wave of strikes. More than 100,000 employees, mostly so-called “essential” workers, have stopped commuting to work in recent weeks, worn out by their post-pandemic conditions after efforts during the coronavirus crisis. It did not take more to give birth to the “Striketober” movement, a contraction of “strike” (strike) and “October” (October).
A strike with almost historic reach across the Atlantic, this kind of protest movement being much rarer in Washington than in Paris. Thus, according to an international comparison carried out by the economic institute of the Hans-Böckler foundation, in France there are on average 114 days of strike per year for 1,000 employees (in the private sector), against only 6 in the United States. According to the CNN channel, this is, for the majority of the employees concerned, their baptism of fire in the matter. Same causes, same consequences in France? Our country is also experiencing its share of workers overwhelmed by the coronavirus crisis. Can the “Striketober” then sweep over France?
Fundamental differences
It is far from being obvious as the differences between the two Nations are so profound. “In the United States, the government is pro-union and tends to be encouraging on this kind of action. Joe Biden has taken a stand in favor of unions several times, especially against Amazon ”, supports Dennis Maillard, founder of the labor relations and labor relations consulting firm Temps Commun and author of Indispensable but invisible? Recognize frontline workers*. Illustration with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, figure of the Democratic Party, currently in power, who notably retweeted in favor of the movement. “The French government is much less favorable and in support of the unions”, smiles the expert.
In addition, social protection is much less important there than in France. Appeared during the crisis in the United States, aid has dried up since September, notes Stéphanie Villers, macroeconomist. Just before the start of the strikes. “Inequalities are generally much less in France than in the United States, thanks to better redistribution,” she continues. In short, American precarious people would have more to fight.
The French desertion rather than the American strike
Another difference: the movement was born in the United States a few months after the presidential election, when in France, this vote will take place in a few months. “We first try to change things through the ballot box before going on strike. The fact of being in a pre-election year should calm the protest movements ”, raises Dennis Maillard.
In France, the challenge to working conditions seems to take another route anyway, that of departure. The country is indeed experiencing a shortage of labor among highly arduous occupations, such as waiters and waitresses or nurses. The economist Albert Hirschman had also theorized the fact that in the event of a deterioration in working conditions, the employee had three solutions: “exit” (leave), “voice” or “loyalty” (loyalty). Each country has provided its response, according to Dennis Maillard: “Where the Americans are making themselves heard by the strike, the French are either in loyalty, as at the heart of the coronavirus crisis, or in desertion from these professions”.
In the name of working conditions
“These jobs have not only become too painful and too restrictive with the crisis, but in addition, employees have realized that for the same low salary, there are jobs that are much less restrictive in terms of social life and leisure”, develops Stéphanie Villers. In the United States, the question is less on wages – which have increased considerably, in an attempt to stem the problem – than on working conditions.
Conditions much less favorable than in France, concludes the economist: “The precarious Americans are fighting for what we already have: limited hours, more paid holidays, weekends … These workers seek that the country tends towards a system where the social protection of everyone is provided by the community ”.
Of course, the case of “yellow vests”, unpredictable three weeks before their appearance, invites modesty regarding the premonition of social movements. Nevertheless, the fight waged on the American side seems less to invite the appearance of a “Striketober” in France than the arrival of Social Security in the United States.
* Jean-Jaurès Foundation, Éditions de l’Aube, 2021.
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