France's election season is kicking off in traditional style - with a sudden deterioration of the social climate and a multitude of strikes.
It may still be more than four months till the presidential poll, but already across a swathe of the public and private sectors workers are seizing the moment to stake a claim or force a concession.
Last week saw nationwide stoppages by gendarmes, air-traffic controllers and junior doctors. Smaller protests were staged by staff at food-giant Lu-Danone, who blocked the Paris ring-road, and troubled shoe-manufacturer Bata - who trashed four shops.
This coming week the teachers go out tomorrow saying they are "over-stretched, under-resourced, isolated"; customs-officers mutter darkly about being left out of concessions made to gendarmes; and on the horizon the big one - a planned strike by bank-workers to mark, or mar, the introduction of the euro on January 1.
The timing of these protests is not fortuitous.
If French governments are in general more willing than most to give way to pressure from the street, they are more than ever so around election time - when the risk of serious social disturbances could hamper their chances of victory.
And election campaigns are also the time when candidates vie with each other in their promises to satisfy sectoral interests - promises they can held to if they win.
"Let's face it, the scenario is not exactly new," commented the financial daily Les Echos. "The approach of elections is stirring up certain desires, especially as the economy as a whole is slowing down."
AFP