They want to “bring France to a standstill”. Since Saturday February 11, the date of the fourth day of protest against the pension reform, the trade unions have announced that they want to make Tuesday March 7 a day of record mobilization. They called to continue and harden the movement, leaving in particular the threat of a renewable strike.
In their joint press release, the CGT, the CFDT, Force Ouvrière, FSU or even the UNEF, then evoked a “social movement unprecedented in its magnitude and therefore now anchored in the social landscape”. “The government, like parliamentarians, cannot remain deaf to it,” they continue. Since then, several sectors are already concerned by calls for sustainable movements. Le Parisien takes stock of the areas concerned.
RATP
The RATP inter-union was among the first to take the organizations’ call to the letter, announcing on Saturday February 11 that it was inviting its employees “to a renewable strike from March 7, 2023 in order to weigh even stronger and win the withdrawal of this bill”.
“If the government still does not hear the determination of the workers, the youth and all those who support this unitary movement to express their anger in the face of this new injustice, it will have to assume the blocking of the economy in our country”, warned the inter-union (CGT, FO, Unsa, CFE-CGC) of the Autonomous Paris Transport Authority in a press release.
A major movement is therefore to be feared, while the fifth day of mobilization had caused very few problems for users of transport in the Ile-de-France region.
SNCF
Even before the call of the union leaders at the head of the Parisian procession on February 11, the CGT-Cheminots had also expressed its desire to see the conflict last. “The demonstrations are massive, union unity is very broad. The ingredients for a victory are therefore met, ”rejoiced the union in a press release on February 10, calling despite this for a hardening. “By striking, we have real power over the economy. By renewing the strike, we are raising the pressure as much as possible”, assured the CGT-Cheminots, welcoming the joint actions “with energy, ports, petrochemicals”.
Energy, industry and oil
The CGT Federation of Chemistry (Fnic-CGT), which includes refineries in particular, calls for a renewable strike from Monday evening March 6, on the eve of the “shutdown” of the country. “It’s official”, indicated Éric Sellini, CGT coordinator for the TotalEnergies group this Friday, February 17, recalling that “refining”, “the petrochemical industry, the pharmaceutical industries, rubber, plastics” were included in this domain.
The CGT energy, which has been on renewable strike since the beginning, has also called on electricity and gas employees to mobilize. On the chemical side, the renewable strike could lead, if it lasts for several days, to the shutdown of certain oil refineries.
Waste sector
On Tuesday February 14, the CGT launched a call for a renewable strike by garbage collectors and “the entire waste sector” from March 7. “The CGT federations of public services and transport call (…) in all companies, public establishments and communities to meet (…) to prepare for the strike in the sectors of waste and household waste collection, sorting and treatment of waste, from March 7 and until the withdrawal of the bill”, they indicate in a joint press release.
The collection and sorting sector is shared between the public service, managed by the local authorities, which depend on the federation of public services, and the private sector (companies such as Veolia, Derichebourg and Nicollin), whose workers are organized by the federation of transport.