May 1968, strikers bring France to a halt

Call for a one-day protest snowballed as workers from across the country

PARIS: Amid the turmoil of the student revolt of May 1968 came France's biggest ever strike when millions of workers downed tools and brought the already shaken country to a halt.

What started out as a call for a one-day work stoppage on May 13 snowballed as workers occupied factories across the country and production, transport and services ground to a halt.

Seven to 10 million workers were involved in the roughly two-week labour action which started winding down only after the government agreed to a massive 35 per cent hike in the minimum wage.

This selection of AFP 'urgent' bulletins illustrates the gathering pace of movement as it spread.

The port of Rouen has been totally paralysed since this morning by a strike involving about 1,600 dockers and 1,800 other workers.

The entire public transport system for the Paris region, called the RATP, is now on strike. There are no buses in circulation in Paris or the suburbs.



There is no traffic on the entire railway network of France, rail operator SNCF announced this morning. All the airports in the Paris region are paralysed after air traffic controllers again stopped working from 10:00 am, a day after ending a 48-hour strike.

Workers and technicians at the Opera national theatre decided overnight on an indefinite strike in which they will also occupy the building.

Four main unions gave the order for an indefinite strike Tuesday at the Bank of France, its branches and its money production unit.

AFP's full report on the situation on May 19 says workers at insurance companies, banks, chemical plants including in the petroleum sector, paper manufacturers and the film industry had joined in the strike.

"The Cannes film festival has had to wrap up early because of conflicts over whether to strike," it says.

The report on May 20 says public transport was blocked across Paris and other major cities, and workers in the key automobile sector were downing tools.

"After the Renault factories, other automobile plants are successively stopping production, such as the Peugeot plants at Sochaux and Montbeliard (both in eastern France), occupied by workers since this morning.

"At Citroen there are signs of disruption, even if there is not yet a full work stoppage.

"At Marseille, Lyon and along the Seine valley from Paris to Le Havre, petrol refineries have ceased work, while at the Shell refinery at Berre near Marseille staff have occupied the factories."

The strikes fed into a growing mood of uncertainty created by unprecedented student protests playing out at the same time, with universities occupied and night-time clashes in the capital.

"This situation has worried the public and seen a rush on banks where there are queues of people waiting to withdraw a bit of money for their daily expenses," an AFP report says.

"Women are flocking to grocery stores to stock up on provisions while men are at petrol pumps to fill up their vehicles."

In Paris rubbish piled up in the streets and at some cemeteries even the dead were not being buried, forcing the authorities to take drastic action.

"Cemeteries occupied by strikers have been evacuated," an AFP report says. "The army has been tasked with burying the dead and digging the graves."



On May 27, the day government and unions reached a deal on wage hikes, 400 dump trucks and containers were sent out across Paris with collections ordered every 48 hours at every building to clear out the pile-up.

Early elections were called and strikers started returning to their jobs, the student protests winding down soon afterwards. The dramatic events of what is known today as just "May 68" were over.