Students played an active role in these demonstrations . In fact, on November 30, students organized their own demonstrations throughout the country demanding more funds for education and the hiring of more teachers and other school employees . The strikes and protests even inspired a demonstration by about 2,000 doctors against the health system cutbacks . . The strike waves and solidarity actions ground production to a crawl in a number of industries . The movement of people and goods was severely hampered .
Workers win some victories, but the big battles lie ahead .
After about two weeks of trying to stonewall the strikers, Juppe was forced to strike a more conciliatory stance . In the first days of December, the education minister granted some of the student movement's demands . Then, on December 10, Juppe announced that he was retracting his plan to raise the requirements for public sector workers to receive pensions . As well, the plan to close down and privatize parts of the state railways was put on hold . This was a significant victory .