The unions are mobilizing this Thursday, for this ninth day of strike and demonstrations against the pension reform. It is also the first organized at the national level since the adoption of the law via article 49.3. Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT provides “a renewed mobilization”. He called for “respect for property and people, non-violence”. “Until the end we will have to keep public opinion, it’s our nugget”, and for that “we need non-violent actions, which do not handicap the daily lives of citizens”, explained the union leader shortly before the start. of the Parisian procession.
Demonstrations interspersed with scuffles have taken place every evening in Paris and in several major cities in France since the forceps adoption of the bill last week. Emmanuel Macron’s speech on Wednesday did not calm the spirits. On the contrary, “he threw a can of gasoline on the fire”, estimated the number one of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, also in the procession, recalling that the unions had written to the Head of State to alert him on the “explosive situation” of the country.
“Macron’s speech helps us to mobilize”
But “he doesn’t care”, added Philippe Martinez, pointing to “a government strategy to highlight incidents”. “There is great anger”, he insisted, underlining the younger than usual profile of the demonstrators: “Today there are a lot of high school students, students, there are universities which are blocked, it is rather a good thing”.
The other union leaders have all shown their determination, like Frédéric Souillot (FO) affirming that “it is only through mobilization and strikes that we will be able to make them go back”. “Macron’s speech helps us to mobilize”, estimated Cyril Chabanier (CFTC), while Murielle Guilbert (Solidaires) felt “a lot of feverishness in the declarations” of the Head of State, Dominique Corona (Unsa) judging that “the President of the Republic has the currency of his room”.
All are now turning to the Constitutional Council, which must decide on the text in less than a month. “We have a horizon of mobilization at least until its decision”, warned Benoit Teste (FSU), for whom “it is in the interest of society to continue a supervised and coordinated movement”.