On November 7th, French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a stirring speech before Congress. Channeling the spirits of George Washington and the Marquis de la Lafayette, Sarkozy displayed a profound understanding of this country that is unique among foreign leaders. Setting the tone for the day, he said, “Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned.”
He got a standing ovation in Washington. If only his own countrymen felt the same way.
France is in the midst of several crippling labor stoppages, including a nationwide transport strike now in its eighth day. Teachers, postal workers, and air traffic controllers launched a one-day strike to demand pay increases and protest job cuts. Students are marching against a law that allows universities to raise money from private sources.
And what has our Gallic brethren so fired up? Sarkozy, determined to bring competitiveness and some semblance of a work ethic back to France, wants to reform the public benefits system. But it’s not as if he’s making some Dickensian demand for mandatory twelve-hour shifts at 10 centimes per day. The proposals are rather modest. But over 25% of the French workforce is in the public sector - and they have a sweetheart deal.
Currently, public sector workers such as teachers, nurses, and policemen are allowed to retire with a full pension at 55; some civil servants can retire at 50. They only contribute to their pension plans for 37.5 years and at 7.85% of salary, while standards for the rest of the country are 40 years with a 9.85% payroll contribution.
If the guarantee of a full pension and retirement at 50 has you giving serious thought to expatriation, join the club. (The gendarmes get those snappy uniforms, too.)
The goal is to get public and private sector benefits in alignment by 2008. Under the reform plan, government support for early retirement would be phased out. Tax incentives would be introduced make company-based savings programs, like those here the United States, more attractive to employees. And workers would be entitled to a pension ''bonus'' if they worked beyond 40 years. (Heaven forbid a 50-something French retiree be forced to work part-time in the lumber department down at his local Dépôt du Maison.)
The unions, of course, are having none of it. Short weeks and early retirement are a birthright now in France, and the slightest encroachment is a call to arms for what might be one of the softest workforces in the world. The French model proves that, once given, lavish benefits are nearly impossible to take away.
And so the protests continue. Militant striking workers are suspected of sabotaging rail lines this week, which only adds to the counterintuitive side of their cause: inconveniencing thousands of commuters is probably not the best way to elicit sympathy. Public polls seem to support this. Unlike the last time around in 1995, most people do not support the strikes.
The insidious aspect to generous entitlements, government or otherwise, is that they engender a like mentality: “I’ve paid my dues and I’ve earned what’s coming to me.” When stark fiscal realities begin to undermine a pay-as-you-go system, no matter how clear and present the dangers may be, they become somebody else’s problem. And if politicians have to choose between those who vote (the current generation who want their goodies) and those who can’t (future generations), the latter will always lose.
Which is exactly what got France into this mess. The entitlement mentality erodes the individual’s notion of self-sacrifice, and into this void flows a collective brand of selfishness. We become willing to mortgage someone else’s future for our more comfortable present. After all, the generation before us enjoyed the same.
The current work stoppages in France aren’t as much strikes as they are temper tantrums. Used to getting their way, the students and unions are holding their breath and going red in the face because mom wants to cut back on the Twinkies for breakfast.
One has to give Sarkozy credit for holding firm, perhaps at his political peril. And as much as he seems to take his cue from our history, it would seem that we have something to learn from France’s.
The last eight days or so, to be more precise.