France’s Judicial Workers Stage National Strike

Judges left their chambers to march in their robes and prison guards refused to escort inmates Tuesday as Justice Ministry employees staged a nationwide strike for better pay and working conditions.

In Paris, court clerks said they are short of basic equipment such as telephones and typewriters. In Bordeaux, the chief judge of the children’s court said child abuse victims have to wait six weeks for cases to be heard.

At several prisons, guards refused to escort prisoners.

In a gesture repeated in cities across France, strike leaders laid wreaths at the steps of the court building in a mock funeral ceremony for the law.

In Paris, 1,000 judges, lawyers and court personnel rallied outside the Palace of Justice, then marched to the office of Prime Minister Michel Rocard.

Jean-Luc Sauron, leader of a judges’ union, said the demonstrators want the government to draw up a multiyear plan for the judicial budget. He threatened “paralysis of the judicial system” unless Rocard acted.

Rocard told leaders of the judicial unions he does not plan to meet them and said they should address their demands to Justice Minister Henri Nallet.

In an unrelated strike, public transit workers nationwide also walked off the job, disrupting bus, subway, rail and trolley service in several major cities. They were striking for better pay and administrative reform.