France issues emergency decree ordering strikers back to work at refinery

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8079680/France-issues-emergency-decree-ordering-strikers-back-to-work-at-refinery.html

Here comes the Cross Roads.
One Union says follow the order, the other says no.
It takes courage to take a stand and if they don't paralyze the country, they hold no leverage.
And leverage is everything, ask the investment banks, because theirs has slipped.
The American People can and should paralyze them.
A fire can't burn if it's fed no oxygen.


Riot police took control of the entrance to the Grandpuits oil refinery, clearing pickets and a barricade of burning tyres, shortly after union leaders told reporters they had been served with the legal notice.

This order, known in France as a "requisition", can be issued by French authorities when they believe a strike poses a threat to public order. It compels strikers to return to work, under threat of prosecution.

France Shut-down Over Retirement Age Battle

http://www.alternet.org/story/148571/france_shut-down_over_retirement_age_battle

Solidarity
The People of France are tired of being lied to.
They elected a position,
Not the next king and queen of France, who party down while the peasants pay for their good time.
Sound familiar?

Workers who have contributed to France's steadily increasing wealth over decades are enraged that Sarkozy is re-neging on his campaign promise to not raise retirement age.

Violent protests have ‘weakened unions’ in retirement battle

http://www.france24.com/en/20101020-france-violent-protests-unions-retirement-sarkozy-pension-hortefeux-petrol

This my friends would be the reason for the rule change regarding the military being able to respond in the United States.
The National Guard is who responds in an emergency, not the military.
It never actually made sense why they where chosen instead of regular military soldiers to go to war in Iraq.

On Tuesday, Sarkozy sent in paramilitary police to clear blockades at France's fuel depots that this week caused a wave of panic-buying and shut down one in three petrol stations across the country.

"If this disorder is not ended quickly, the attempt to paralyse the country could have consequences for jobs by disrupting the normal functioning of the economy," Sarkozy told a cabinet meeting in remarks released by his office, adding his determination to push the pension reform through.

Fuel to Paris reduced as French protests escalate

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE69E1AN20101015?pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

Solidarity speaks volumes.

Striking French oil refinery workers shut down a fuel pipeline supplying Paris and its airports on Friday and airport workers grounded some flights as protests mounted to derail an unpopular pension reform.

France's airport operator played down worries of fuel shortages, but strikes at all of the country's 12 refineries and fuel depot blockades prompted motorists to stock up on petrol.

TV footage showed riot police using teargas to contain young protesters in the southern city of Lyon.

About 260 people were arrested throughout the country, police said, describing them mostly as "troublemakers", while about a dozen officers were injured.

In Paris, police got orders to stop using "flashball" riot-control pellets, a type of rubber bullet, to quieten crowds after a secondary school student was badly injured on Thursday.