'Going on strike' is something that marked the transitional period of the ex-Yu countries. I am not sure if that's national phenomenon or just one of the alternatives to voice your demands, but it has been ever-present since the disintegration of Yugoslavia.  And, usually the strikes are not very successful for the strikers themselves, but rather for the political parties who rally around them to get popularity. Macedonian case is whenever there is a strike there is some political party that is eager to profit out of it, especially when the strikes are organized in pre-election period.
 I become more willing to believe that 'going on strike' is more national trait than just logical cycle of events. Countries like Germany, Sweden and in general all the Scandinavian countries don't have a history of strikes. Why.. probably because the government and the citizens know how to reach social consensus, unlike the newly born democracies aka. ex-socialist countries which still haven't learn the 'social consensus' lesson.  
France is different story, exception of all  above mentioned.  As Agnesa says, the strikes are so regular that people forget why they were staged in the first place. The French trade unions are well organized and powerful and the strikes are their main weapons of getting what they want. I guess the French will never end their French Revolution. The strikes seem to be the French revolution's offsprings..;)