Posted Feb 21 2023 at 09:14 PMUpdated Feb 21. 2023 at 23:41
The movement against pension reform is preparing its weapons. The eight main French unions and five youth organizations on Tuesday reaffirmed their desire to bring “France to a halt” on March 7, promising to make this date the most important day of strikes and demonstrations since the first.
The inter-union wants to “make March 7 the strongest day” since January 19, confirmed Yvan Ricordeau, CFDT national secretary, during a press conference after a meeting at the CGT headquarters in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). “There is a consensus between us to say that the objective is to do better than January 31,” he added. That day, the unions had counted more than 2.5 million demonstrators and the authorities 1.27 million.
“We are determined to succeed in an extremely massive March 7,” said Catherine Perret (CGT). For her, “the objective is that every French person can express themselves. An employee of a VSE who walks off for an hour is already a stone for victory”.
Renewable strike or not?
To give maximum visibility to the movement, the inter-union decided on the principle of “unitary tools”: a visual display of “France at a standstill” to demonstrate that it takes everywhere, a channel for listing “tens of thousands of initiatives in parallel with the demonstrations, or even a common #.
Asked about possible renewable strikes from March 7, Yvan Ricordeau returned the responsibility for this decision to the federations of the different sectors. It is up to “the professional sectors to discuss what they are doing on the 7th or after the 7th”, he stressed.
Is it a question of not discouraging possible renewable strikes? “We do not discourage mobilizations that go beyond March 7,” replied Patricia Drevon (FO), referring to this formula from the inter-union press release published on Tuesday: “Together, from March 7, let’s put a kick stop this unacceptable pension reform project”.
Stopping of economic production
It is up to everyone, in each company, to mobilize, noted Catherine Perret, for whom there will be no strikes or demonstrations “by proxy”. “The employers will be attentive to what the strike produces: the paralysis, the slowdown or even the cessation of economic production,” she warned.
“All this shows that we are strategic, we know how to mount mobilizations, we are calm, serene, determined and that we are going to win”, hoped Dominique Corona (Unsa). Without hiding that March 7 will not be the last day, the inter-union nevertheless returned to the evening of this day to find out what happened next.
Source AFP