The weariness and resignation that we felt dawning among opponents of the pension reform in recent days did not last long. Barely a few minutes after the use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution by Elisabeth Borne in front of deputies, unions and students showed their determination to continue and amplify the mobilization.
From the middle of the afternoon, demonstrators gathered in the middle of the Place de la Concorde, a few steps from the National Assembly, at the call of Solidaires. They were quickly joined by a student procession from the Place de la Sorbonne. Other rallies spontaneously took place all over France, such as in Marseille, Grenoble, Toulouse, Lyon, Lille, Nantes or even Bordeaux, marking, once again, the local anchoring of the protest.
The leaders of the eight main employee organizations called on Thursday evening for “local union gatherings” the weekend of March 18 and 19 and at a “new big day of strikes and demonstrations” Thursday 23. While the so-called “reformist” unions (CFDT, UNSA, CFTC, CFE-CGC) had announced that they would respect parliamentary democracy in the event of a vote in favor of the reform in the Assembly and the Senate, here is finally the inter-union, reinvigorated, which begins a new phase of the challenge.
“It is a disavowal for the governmentasserts to Monde Laurent Berger. The fact of resorting to 49.3 is a demonstration that he does not have a majority in Parliament. » For the secretary general of the CFDT, “it is a shipwreck from every point of view” while public opinion remains overwhelmingly opposed to the project. “The forced passage with the use of 49.3 must find an answer commensurate with this contempt of the people”his CGT counterpart, Philippe Martinez, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Triple defeat for the executive”
“49.3 constitutes a triple defeat for the executive: popular, political and moral, strikes the general secretary of the UNSA, Laurent Escure. It opens a new stage of the challenge. » The use of this article of the Constitution “is a headlong rush” in the eyes of Simon Duteil, co-delegate general of Solidaires, and that “emphasizes the anger already present”. A fear expressed by all the members of the inter-union. The 49.3 is “the worst solution, the one that can lead us to social explosion”considers the president of the CFTC, Cyril Chabanier.
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