A French pastime, Striking.

French people love a good strike. Any excuse to down tools and take to the streets is keenly supported by most Frenchmen and women.

It is with this background that I must report to you that we are currently facing a strike in Paris of monumental proportions, one that started a couple of weeks ago and is expected to continue until the 6th of May. You see, the city of Paris is trying to change the working environment of the City of Paris Swimming Pool ticket controllers.

Yes the lovely people who stamp your ticket then open the gate for you at the local swimming pool are on strike. (They do not even sell the ticket, that is performed by someone else!) Because of this strike, many pools have had to shut their doors, or seriously modify their operating hours, and it is causing heartache for regular Parisian swimmers.

This was reported today in the Parisian newspaper "Le Parisien". It appears to be having a serious effect on the leisure activities of some Paris residents. They interviewed disgruntled swimmer, Phillipe who said (in French, here is the translation) "'It's very annoying, not knowing before going there, if the pool is open or closed. It has happened several times, I go for nothing". He then went on to say, "I just swim during my lunch break. I found the door closed on two Wednesdays". (How utterly unacceptable I hear you say.)

The City of Paris, want to try and change the reception arrangements at their pools across Paris, so that basically the person who sells you the ticket is also the person who lets you in the gate. (Sounds simple enough) So the "gatekeepers" are going to be turned into cashiers, but the problem is that the city of Paris apparently already employ 87 people as cashiers at its various swimming pools, and they do not want to force any redundancies. According to the paper, they believe that up to 50 will retire or move onto other employment within 4 years.

All of this does not sit very comfortably with the union, as one cashier and union member said (again in French) "This will result in a deterioration of working conditions at the expense of everyday tasks such as monitoring the changing rooms" (obviously a VERY important task).

So those of you planning on visiting Paris anytime in the next couple of weeks would be well advised to leave those speedos or swimming costume at home. As if you turn up to your local pool, it may well be closed.