REPORTAGE – Since mid-January, Le Figaro spent nearly a hundred hours in protests against pension reform in Paris. The opportunity to hear the concerns and multiple claims, between throwing cobblestones and tear gas.
We are on January 19, 2023. Standing behind a large white banner, in Paris, near Place de la République, Laurent Berger smiles. At the forefront of the mobilization against the pension reform, the strong man of the CFDT is happy. There is enough: a few days before the arrival of the bill in Parliament, the unions are on the rise. Thwarting the forecasts, they succeeded in mobilizing the opponents, and massively, excuse the little. Behind the trade unionist and his counterparts from the other centrals, who display a rare union, the Place de la République is crowded. A strong signal of the rejection of the project by the employees, proclaims the representative, who urges the executive to “listenthe street as quickly as possible. For his part, Philippe Martinez, is delighted with a mobilization “very, very, very strong” (three “very” of the CGT, therefore a “very” according to the police headquarters) and issues a visionary warning: the mobilization of this Thursday is only a “first stage».
In the Parisian procession, the determination is palpable: “The addition is too heavy», Annoys a laboratory assistant from Val-d’Oise, unionized South, who refuses to give her name. For this employee, the postponement of the retirement age is the last straw that caused an already full barrel to overflow: in her speech, concerns about the end of her career are mixed, concerns for purchasing power, and deep resentment vis-à-vis an executive who, in his eyes, turns a deaf ear. Words that summarize the general observation, among those who beat the pavement. This January 19, the showdown with the government is launched, and in style. It has been going on for almost three months.
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