Thoughts on Labor Unions and the French Difference

Two things I need to "analyze" for you all: Labor Unions (and their strikes) and the different "approach" to the environment in France.

1. What sense does striking make to have politicians support labor unions plans? The Deustche Bahn had been striking during morning rush hours for a couple weeks now... which has inconvenienced (at the least) thousands of commuters and possibly cost many lots of money. (I could've easily missed my flight and had to pay to rebook.) The French rail strikes that have closed systems actually cripple many peoples' abilities to get around which can lead to (especially poorer) people loosing their jobs since they can't get there. How exactly does this garner popular support for the strikers? When I walked into the Köln Hauptbahnhof after paying 30€ for a taxi, a striking Bahn worker offered me a leaflet on their strike. I didn't take it and, if I'd known more German, wanted to tell him to get back to work. Besides, who seriously expects to strike for a 31% pay raise!? That's ridiculous.

2. I am still pretty shocked about the lack of environmentalism in France. I guess I really have come to expect minimal packaging and a plethora of recycling options from my time in Germany. It seems like everywhere I go in Berlin there are four different types of trash cans for paper, glass, packaging and waste but in France there was just one type: waste. It also felt somewhat odd to receive free plastic bags with anything purchased. I guess it's much more American in that regard but I've grown accustomed to the German way of minimizing waste and recycling as much of whatever is leftover. It's going to be a strange adjustment back to America--hopefully I can maintain the German concern for the environment when I'm back in the States.