SPEAKING OF THE LACK OF PRODUCTIVITY IN EUROPE:

Season Of The Strike: Workers take to the streets in the U.K., France, Italy and Greece. Politicians fear a winter of discontent, but can they afford to meet the union demands? (TIME, Dec. 9, 2002)

Across Europe last week, union members left their jobs and marched. From the teachers and firemen of Britain to the cabbies and doctors of Greece, their demands were much the same: more social welfare benefits, shorter hours, better pay. Angry workers are the last thing European governments need right now. Confronted with sluggish growth and an accompanying drop in tax receipts, finance ministers worry that labor concessions would push budget deficits over E.U. limits. So some politicians are playing it tough, either denying union claims outright or linking them to cost-saving and modernization. Other leaders are caving in, delaying or diluting plans to improve labor market flexibility and reform failing pension systems. How governments respond to this wave of strikes — and other walkouts that are still to come — will help determine how their economies weather the economic slump.

In the rough-and-ready camp are British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his French counterpart, Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Last week Blair offered a deal to state healthcare workers for a pay rise tied to reforms, but refused wage demands by striking firefighters unless they modernize. Raffarin scored an important victory by threatening tough action against strikers who break the law. As a result, industrial action by farmers, truckers and state employees fizzled. In the worried and waffling camp are Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi — who has hesitated on promises to free up the labor market — and Greek leader Costas Simitis, who risks seeing his country's hard-won fiscal stability damaged by demands from public sector workers. Here's a look at four leaders standing nose-to-nose with the unions.

Disappointing to see Berlusconi prove himself more Italian than conservative, but Blair continues to be--with the glaring exception of his Europhilia--a nearly worthy successor to Margaret Thatcher. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 5, 2002 12:12 PM