- At the start of the mobilization against the pension reform, the blocking of the Christmas holidays was the main threat.
- Now that Christmas and the end-of-year holidays are over, has the movement lost its main weapon in the balance of power with the government?
- For trade union experts interviewed by 20 Minutes ,
For a long time, Christmas was the main threat of the movement against pension reform. If the government did not fold, the end-of-year holidays would be impacted by movement, complicated or impossible trips. In the end, at Christmas time Neither the Elysée Palace nor the strikers had given in, and gifts like Christmas trees were unpacked with very few trains and subways.
But is this a victory? Now that the threat of Christmas has passed, have they not lost a pressure lever that could be lacking in the next power struggles with the government? Joël Sohier, lecturer at the University of Reims and author of Syndicalism in France , recognizes the threat that this represented.
Impacting the economy, the real threat
However, the strikers keep a strong lever according to him: if it is less symbolic, a strike in January is a significant means of pressure! "We are entering an intense economic period" recalls the lecturer. To act in January is therefore to act on the economy, a means of pressure par excellence.
A goal that the movement has not achieved according to Dominique Andolfatto, professor of political science at the University of Burgundy and specialist in trade union organizations. For him, more than Christmas, the real threat was that of a blockage of the country, which the movement failed to do in December. “At best, these were blocked trains and subways, not the nation. The officials only stopped for the mobilization days, the private sector did not follow. For him, the threat to weigh on the economy was not held all the more difficult to brandish it with the figures of striking strikers.
Determination and deadline
A country that continues to breathe certainly, but for Joël Sohier, the main thing is elsewhere: having shown the determination of the movement as well as its emancipation. “The fact of having held out at Christmas, against the advice of the government and the so-called reformist unions shows conviction. Those who are weakened are the government, not the unions. "
Towards the infinity of the strike and beyond
According to Dominique Andolfatto, the strategy for decaying the situation that the latter could use immediately has its limits. Already, a new strong day is brewing (this Thursday, January 9) and could well boost the mobilization figures. But above all, pension reform remains extremely unpopular with public opinion. "However, for a decay strategy to work, you must first gain public opinion," he said.
The fact of not having deadlines would be even another form of emancipation for Joël Sohier, a way of not being dictated the conduct to follow. According to him "the deadlines are a logic of the government or the media. By going back in time, having no more dated objectives or symbolic stages, the strike poses a new question: when will it end? The population is tired of seeing the country in social conflict indefinitely. "
The movement of "yellow vests" is not even finished that an indefinite strike begins ... Joël Sohier concludes: "The government can not get tangled in social conflicts that never end. The lack of a deadline has become a force, because it projects the movement indefinitely. "
Society
Pension reforms: strikers demonstrate at BlackRock headquarters in Paris
Society
Pension reform: The CFDT announces that it will be mobilized in the region on Saturday
- Society
- Government
- Pension reform
- Union
- Strike