French unions surprised many when they reached a deal this week with business on more flexible labor rules, but they are gearing up for a fight with President Nicolas Sarkozy over pensions and salaries. Four unions, including one of the most hard-line, signed up to making job contracts more flexible to head off the threat of tougher rules that could have been imposed by Sarkozy if they had failed to reach a deal. "This success is an important moment in the history of our social relations," Sarkozy said, praising unions and businesses in a speech Thursday for their part in the deal. "Of course it's only a first stage. Other initiatives will be opened, and I hope, finished in 2008."
See "French unions gear up for political fight", Anna Willard, International Herald Tribune, January 16, 2008