The much-anticipated release of the iPhone 5.<br /><br />But some Apple employees here in Paris and across France are striking to demand better working conditions.<br /><br />One of France's main unions, which represents about a quarter of Apple store employees, is behind the strike.<br /><br />Some of their demands include the installation of water fountains in staff areas, the provision of meal vouchers and paying a thirteenth month salary a common practice in French companies.<br /><br />[Thomas, Employee on strike]:<br />"We have really bad condition of work and hard condition of work and we do our best every day, so please just take care of us."<br /><br />But sales of the new handset were unaffected, as a queue wrapped around the block with customers eager to get their hands on the latest iPhone.<br /><br />Apple, which employs about 1,000 people in its French stores, said earlier this week that it had booked orders for over 2 million iPhone 5 models in the first 24 hours.
