Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Frenchmen on Strike!

French bureaucrats face adversity the only way they know how . . . by walking off the job.

More than 2,000 government employed "researchers" resigned en mass today in protest against budget cut backs according to this robotically translated Reuters story .

French paper pushers (and students, of course) will take to the barricades, but only temporarily. Although they have "resigned" they plan to go back to their offices and collect their salary but they are firm about not accepting any additional "work" until the government restores their funding.

It seems to me that anyone truly interested in scientific research would have moved to the United States or Britain by now where they can work 100 hour weeks with the best minds of their generation.

Those currently clogging up the cafes of Paris with their faux outrage and stylish banners might discuss among themselves the meaning of two lovely French words: entrepreneur and Mediocre.

Puff purposefully on your Gauloises Legeres Blondes while the rest of us actually push the boundaries of science.

No comments: