Paris (AFP)
The mobilization on the pensions settles in the duration to try to make bend the government and promises a weekend of galley in the transport before a new test of force Tuesday and the presentation of the reform the following day.
"We hit a big blow, generated a dynamic," welcomed the number one Force Ouvrière, Yves Veyrier, before the inter-union meeting that called for a new mobilization next Tuesday.
Thursday, the demonstrations were more mobilized than during the first days of the social movements on pensions of 1995, 2003 and 2010.
Teachers, railwaymen, firefighters, civil servants ... With more than 800,000 people on the street and some sectors of activity at idle or even stop like refineries, the unions opposed to the reform (FO, CGT, Solidaires, FSU) have taken colors.
All, including the first of them, the CFDT, which supports the principle of a universal pension scheme by points, urge the executive out of the wood to detail its reform.
From the steps of Matignon, Edouard Philippe promised that he would deliver Wednesday, within the precincts of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) dear to the social partners, "the entire government project".
But will there be anything to extinguish the fire?
"The calendar is upset but nothing changes in the government's goal: to break our solidarity pension plan and replace it with an individualized system where each and everyone will lose," regretted the CGT, where voices are already arguing for a third mobilization day Thursday, December 12th. An inter-union meeting was also scheduled for Tuesday night.
For the CGT, the Prime Minister is "deaf" and "tries to divide, to oppose the employees between them by stigmatizing some of them".
At the origin of anger: the "universal system" of retirement supposed to replace from 2025 the 42 existing pension schemes (general, civil servants, private, special, autonomous, complementary).
The executive promises a "fairer" device, when opponents fear a "casualization" of retirees.
Edouard Philippe took care to say that he was not "in a logic of confrontation", as to move away from his mentor Alain Juppé version 1995.
Before the Prime Minister's announcements, Solidarity Minister Agnès Buzyn and High Commissioner Jean-Paul Delevoye will present Monday afternoon the conclusions of the dialogue revived in September by the government.
- Avoid suburban trains Monday -
Meanwhile, users will still have great difficulty moving, even if no difficulty was reported Saturday morning on the roads of Ile-de-France.
The strike continued Friday in public transport and the weekend, less than three weeks of Christmas, still looks very disturbed. On Saturday morning, SNCF confirmed its traffic forecast of 15% of the suburban trains and a TGV of six while the RATP also confirmed the closure of nine metro lines.
And Monday, fifth day of strike, does not look rosier in public transport. The SNCF has even recommended that travelers in the Ile-de-France avoid commuter trains that day, as the expected influx could make the stations dangerous.
The three representative unions of the SNCF called together for the unlimited strike - the CGT-Cheminots, the Unsa railway and SUD-Rail - do not disarm. They find themselves Saturday morning in inter-union headquarters at the CGT in Montreuil.
Saturday afternoon, the demonstration against unemployment and precariousness, organized every first Saturday of December, could have a particular tone, in resonance with the mobilization on pensions.
"Yellow vests", which have supported the challenge, must also march in Paris.
The government has several fires to extinguish, and not only on the special schemes, for which Edward Philippe has promised "progressive transitions" to the future system.
In particular, it must address the concerns of teachers, who fear that their pensions will fall with the new rules of calculation. To avoid this, the Prime Minister committed to a "gradual revaluation" of their treatment.
In air transport on the other hand, Saturday should be quieter than Thursday and Friday: only delays and disruptions are expected, according to forecasts by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC).
© 2019 AFP