Auld, it really is amazing how much of an insight you get into all aspects of the political when you're in the middle of something like this & you can see it all carrying on around you without even a passing resemblance to your reality.
Sarkozy is such a nutter anyway - I'm still not sure why he's in power, but then I don't think that most of the French seem to know, either
With the fire strikes, the media focussed almost entirely on the request for a higher wage (so requested because they keep getting burdened with extra work such as home risk assessments & handing out leaflets in supermarkets which are not included in the wage to which they originally signed up!) & completely ignored the main points such as reduced staffing at night. The government argue that we need fewer firefighters & fire engines at night because there are fewer fires. Which is true. But a huge percentage of those fires are fatal, as people are asleep & don't realise that there's a fire until it's too late.
The government have effectively signed quite a few death warrants over the whole thing & that's the sort of issue that the firefighters were striking about - but virtually nobody understands that, even now.
It's so frustrating to know the truth of the matter & for people around you to be tutting & sighing, shouting 'greedy' without any idea what's going on. Especially when you're only trying to do a job which helps other people - like education or firefighting - & you're just getting abuse from the higher powers.