Culture Clash

There was a strike by airport staff at Carcassonne airport last week. It co-incided with guests arriving by train and by car and so I was blissfully unaware of it until the whole thing was over - fortuitous in the short term but potentially disastrous in the long term.

Ryanair have taken a very dim view of the strike and have lodged an official complaint with the CGT, the local transport union, claiming that the strike was illegal. The CGT, being very French, defends their members right to strike at the drop of a hat. Ryanair, being a very aggressive European, rather than French, business has threatened to pull all flights out of Carcassonne and transfer them to Beziers and Perpignan. A difference of opinion, no doubt, but one with potentially huge ramifications for businesses like mine and for the region in general.

If Ryanair pulled out it would ruin my business overnight. I get plenty of people arriving by car or train but the vast majority are on a short break from the UK and the flights into Carcassonne make those breaks viable.

The problem in this case is cultural. The CGT are used to dealing with Paris and, over the years, French Government has a history of just backing down and acceding to demands in the face of trouble from the Unions. The CGT think they will go on strike and have their demands met with no further consequences.

Unfortunately, having worked as a Finance and Commercial Director for many years in the UK, I know that British and indeed Irish/European businesses, especially one as aggressive as Ryanair, do not think in the same way as a passive French Government. Strikes are an anathema to the business ethic and will not be tolerated. I have no doubt that Ryanair will be true to their word and pull out of Carcassonne if they don't get some stonewall guarantees as to future conduct, or if the CGT are stupid enough to call out their workers again. I fear the worst.

Not only would the CGT workers lose their jobs and Carcassonne airport return to being the home of a flying school and the odd military helicopter, but the whole region would immediately suffer the loss of half a million visitors a year and the income that they bring to all the many and varied businesses.

This is a clash between socialist France and capitalist Europe - between the defenders of the rights of the workers and shareholder profit, and by default, entrepreneurial spirit. It is such an irony that entrepreneur is a French word and yet the laws of this country so stifle anyone trying to live up to it's meaning.

It is ironic too that we are currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1968 revolution. I have read so may articles from people who were there, who took part, who wanted to change life - and all of them say nothing really changed at all - so much for revolution - when did it ever achieve a lasting difference for the ordinary man and woman (or animal - just read Animal Farm again if you have forgotten).

But 1968 did achieve something in France - stasis. The socialists won the argument then and all of France has been living in their inertia ever since. French socialism has many positive aspects at a local level - equality of opportunity, good schooling and health care to name but a couple - but it has a nation of people content to sit on their fat arses and let the Government pay for them too.

So it racks up debt and nobody can build a business because of crippling social charges and draconian employment laws and as a result, the rights of 30 workers at an airport (who absolutely should be paid a decent salary for the job they do - and I don't think that they are currently getting that) - could completely destroy the last five years growth in this region.

I sincerely hope that common sense descends on all parties, on both sides. In fact, my fingers are crossed, and everything held firmly, in that hope.

Apropos of nothing at all, George W Bush once said that the French don't have a word for 'entreeprenure'. I don't think they have a word for dickhead either, but if I find out they do, I will let him know.