The only country to defy the North-South trend was Belgium, where strikes interrupted local and international train services, including the Eurostar to and from London.
Italy, where strikes are common, remained tranquil and free of gasoline shortages as trucking leaders and government officials negotiated over competing proposals for relief.
Feb. 4 - Labor troubles increase as talks break down in the southern province of Bielsko-Biala, the only region where strikes continued after an agreement was reached with workers elsewhere.
Instead, ministers are going to cut public sector pay in real terms year after year and raise the legal bar for industrial action to the point where strikes will be effectively outlawed in public services.
"We want to avoid an escalation," Mr. Bauer added, saying employers would wait to see how the strike unfolds before locking out workers at sites where strikes were not taking place.
Having spent much of 2007 in Lille, where strikes and street protests took place regularly, I have a horrible feeling that Sarkozy could cause the kind of social unrest in France that Thatcher caused in Britain.
