Jean Voirin, a former cinema technician, and secretary general of the arts branch of the powerful CGT union, was among those who called the strike in 2003.
Unions, particularly the communist-backed Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), which represents half of EDF's 110,000 workers in France, have fiercely opposed the move.
But although the government privately concedes that its earlier CGT changes were a mess, it will not admit this publicly by making changes now.Tax changes would, in any case, affect only a small proportion of investments.
The Communist-led General Confederation of Labour (CGT) long held sway.
Forcing large numbers of the firm's workers out of their jobs would almost certainly meet with instant retaliation from the CGT.
A working group of scientists and venture capitalists, set up by the Treasury, called for a cut in capital-gains tax (CGT) and tax breaks for venture-capital trusts that invest in technology.
The Communist-backed CGT union is threatening to strike at the end of January in protest at reforms planned by Electricité de France (EDF), Europe's largest electricity company.
When the communist-backed Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), the most powerful union, organised a day of action in June against the dilution of the 35-hour week, it called 1m people into the streets; but by its own estimate only half that number turned out.
CGT leaders rejected political action in favour of direct action sabotage, boycotts, strikes, and especially the general strike, which they saw as the ultimate weapon that would transform France into a workers' state.
For example, in Argentina Juan Perón used the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the trade union peak association, to gain and maintain the presidency of that country from 1946 to 1955.
In its early years the CGT was racked by ideological divisions between socialist, syndicalist (promoting an overthrow of capitalism by the working class), and other factions.
