Word: thursday
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...G.O.P. has had a rough month. But if Republicans think things will improve now that House Democrats have failed in their vote Thursday to override President Bush's veto of a $35 billion expansion of the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), they are in for a rude awakening...
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly used the politically provocative term "rupture" to characterize the sweeping reforms he hopes will force a break with France's socio-economic past. On Thursday, Sarkozy will be getting his first major taste of opposition to his quest to create such a breach: massive public sector strikes that will not only shape the future of Sarkozy's entire reformist drive - but perhaps his entire presidency as well...
...Work stoppages starting Wednesday night and running through Thursday will cause cancellation of nearly 90% of all scheduled train service across France, and is expected to bring public transport in almost 30 major cities - including Paris - to a standstill. The movement will also be backed by other public employees involved in a contested pension reform: limited disruption is expected in schools due to striking teachers, for example, while the Paris Opera and Comédie Français have already canceled their programs for Thursday with virtually all their public sector staff set to walk out. At issue: the government...
...Though Thursday's strikes and protests will be a massive show of force by unions, the real key to their success is whether those stoppages can be replicated and sustained over time with greater numbers of public sector workers joining the walkouts - and convince public opinion to back their efforts. That kind of strong opposition, some pundits predict, could cause Sarkozy to effectively pull the "special regime" revision off the table in order to avoid the same kind of long, bitter, and economically disastrous conflict of 1995. But such a stand-down would also badly damage Sarkozy's tireless self...
...Opinion polls taken ahead of Thursday's strikes vary considerably, though together they roughly average a near 50% split between approval and condemnation. However, director of the French Revue of Political Science, Jean-Luc Parodi, notes public support of the strikers is already far below the 70% level expressed in 1995, and at least 10 points lower than those registered in 2003 - and they could fall further. The difference, he says, is context...