Le mot du jour : la grève
“La grève” is the strike, a true staple of the French way of life.
The word comes from the name of a square in Paris called Place de la
Grève, where unemployed people in the 17th and 18th century would gather
to look for jobs opportunities, so at the time “faire la grève” meant
looking for work.
In the 19th, the meaning changed to the one we
know today : stopping your activity to express a disagreement about your
conditions of work.
This Thursday, a big “grève” is going to start in France as the government is changing the rules of the pensions’ system.
More than one government “s’est cassé les dents” on that subject and that is going to be our word for next week. Stay tuned 🙂
