Paris Strikers Cause Power Outages at Hospitals, Transit Tie-ups

Electric company workers demanding higher pay caused critical power outages in operating rooms at three hospitals Thursday as a wave of public sector strikes gained momentum, leaving traffic snarled, Parisians stranded and tempers on the rise.

One doctor said he could have lost a bleeding patient on the operating table if the 20-minute outage had occurred 15 minutes earlier. He said he went in his operating gown to the headquarters of Electricite de France, the state-run electric company, then to the police station to have the power restored.

Officials at the Ambroise Pare Clinic, the American Hospital and the Hartmann Clinic, all in suburban Neuilly, said there were surprise power cuts lasting between 20 and 30 minutes that emergency generators could not handle.

Biggest Computer Down

Sporadic power outages occurred around France as electric company employees intentionally reduced current on the third day of their job action, briefly darkening some offices, stopping traffic signals and knocking out a Cray 2 computer, one of the most powerful computers on the market, located at the Ecole Polytechnique and used by the nation’s top scientists.

Striking Paris subway and bus employees, who have been off the job sporadically since December, crippled public transport during the morning rush hour, completely shutting down two Metro subway lines and providing minimal service on others. Three unions called for a continuation of the Metro strike today.

Striking train employees, entering their fourth week off the job, continued to cut train service in half. Some strikers sabotaged train equipment, destroying telephones and cutting cables to keep service down, the train authority said.

Walkouts at Arsenals

The Defense Ministry said 33% of the workers at the 25 major French arsenals, where weapons are manufactured and maintained, were off the job. Post offices were also slightly affected by strikers there.

All assemblymen and senators from the governing conservative coalition called on Parisians to demonstrate Monday “to show their profound discontent and demand a return to work.”

Various industry and small business groups also called on the French people to demonstrate against the strikes. Angry citizens occupied a number of utility offices to show their discontent.

Dr. Jean Daurat, orthopedic surgeon at the Ambroise Pare Clinic, said in a telephone interview that the power outage could have cost the life of a patient on the operating table if it had occurred 15 minutes earlier.

“I was in the middle of an operation for an artificial hip. . . . A vascular suture was needed,” he said. “We had just finished when the outage occurred. A quarter of an hour earlier, we wouldn’t have saved the patient. There was a hemorrhage.”

Generator Insufficient

Daurat said the hospital’s emergency generator was insufficient to maintain equipment such as respirators and surveillance apparatus.

There were half-hour outages at the nearby American Hospital and Hartmann Clinic, officials there said.

“This is the first time in 25 years that there has been such an incident,” said an official at the Hartmann Clinic, asking not to be identified by name. The official said the outage affected heavy equipment such as scanners and lasers as well as the clinic’s alarm system.

The electric company workers went on strike Tuesday, demanding higher pay. Metro drivers and mechanics and train drivers also want paychecks that will keep up with the cost of living. Train employees also are seeking improved working conditions.

Representatives of the government, the state-run train authority and unions met Thursday to discuss working conditions.