Even by French standards, it is arguably the most far-fetched strike action yet. Railway workers in Paris walked out yesterday in support of colleagues who were suspended for drinking rum punch while operating signals and points on a busy line. Unions denounced the disciplinary hearings as an intolerable attack on the inalienable Gallic right to a tipple.
The issue is sensitive following a controversial government drive to promote sobriety in the workplace. However the strike, which caused chaos on commuter lines around Paris, was denounced by passengers as “totally disproportionate”.
Eight employees of SNCF, the state railway network, were filmed preparing a rum, lemon and pepper punch whilst working in a signal box on a line north of Paris on a Sunday last year.
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