Industry minister makes shocking parallel to Haiti

French Industry Minister Christian Estrosi lashed out at striking Sud-Rail workers in France on Wednesday, comparing their inaction to not helping out after the earthquake in Haiti.

Reuters

Estrosi compared the natural disaster in Haiti to the natural disaster of the volcanic ash over Europe, as planes were grounded and millions prevented from flying throughout the continent.

"It's as if the Sud-Rail strikers refused to clean up in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, and they refused to suspend the strike to clean up [after the volcano ash]," Estrosi told France 2 television.

Estrosi said that the striking workers of SNCF, CGT and Sud-Rail needed to band together in solidarity and suspend their strike in order to help the stranded air passengers due to the Icelandic volcano.

He added that he spoke to the mayor of Nice, who said that nearly 400 people had to spend two nights in the station there.

The 12 January earthquake in Haiti killed at least 220,000 people and left 1.3 million homeless.

Using Haiti as a comparison for the French rail strike is "scandalously ridiculous," said the Sud-Rail union.