Employees of French telecommunications company SFR take part in a national day of action organized by French unions. Despite their declining membership and fragmentation, French unions still have some potent tools at their disposal.
(JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)
Emmanuel Macron won this month's French presidential election on a promise to balance state intervention in the French economy and reforms intended to make it more competitive. His electoral platform included a promise to introduce public investment initiatives worth some 50 billion euros (roughly $56 billion) over the next five years, for example, but it also includes proposals to make labor laws more flexible and to cut public sector spending by 60 billion euros....