Opponents of the pension reform will once again take to the streets on Thursday to demand its withdrawal, but the mobilization is running out of steam while the text started this week its route to the National Assembly.
“Withdrawal of an unjust and dangerous project”: since the mobilization began two months ago, the watchword of the CGT, FO, Solidaires, the FSU and youth organization (Unef, MNL, UNL) has not changed. This Thursday, rallies and demonstrations are planned all over France. In the capital, the procession will leave at midday from Gare de l'Est to Place de la Nation.
During the eighth call for an interprofessional day on January 30, the demonstration had marked time, with 108,000 people in France (Ministry of the Interior), against 249,000 the previous day, January 24. The continuation of the movement must be decided at a meeting at the headquarters of the CGT at the end of the day. "February 17, the first day the text passes through the hemicycle, is a good date for a new call," suggests Eric Beynel, spokesperson for Solidaires.
More than 20,000 amendments, including 19,000 of the rebels
Work began this week in the special committee of the National Assembly, which must examine more than 20,000 amendments, including 19,000 of the rebels. The CFDT, in favor of a “universal” point system, lobbied deputies to improve the texts and worked in this direction on amendments, as did the CFTC and Unsa. For its part, Force Ouvrière has written to parliamentarians so that they "do not approve" the bill and that they "ask the government to abandon it".
In the streets, actions continued this week, organized in particular by officials (scientific police, garbage collectors, sewer workers, etc.). The lawyers, on strike for a month, were received a second time this week by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and will decide on the continuation of the movement on Friday.
"Normal" traffic at RATP
On the strike side, several sectors have taken over from transport, where traffic will be "normal" at RATP and with "little disruption" at SNCF, mainly concentrated on a few lines of the Transilien network (D, H, J and K) where two out of three trains are planned. In the maritime sector, the CGT ports and docks called for a new day of strike, known as the "dead ports" operation. These actions, recurrent for several weeks in the big ports, were generally very followed.
Employees in the energy sector also remain mobilized, particularly in waste treatment and nuclear. At the Penly power station in Normandy, where 83% of the employees surveyed voted against the reform, seven employees of the power plant received a visit to their home on Tuesday from a bailiff who had given them a notice to vacate the site. The unions - CGT, FO, SUD - however deny any blockage.
In the waste sector, the employees of the three incineration sites in Ile-de-France have renewed their movement until Friday. The prefecture requisitioned staff to manage the garbage stocks and restart one of the ovens at Issy-les-Moulineaux. In Marseille also the strike continues, with 3,000 tonnes of waste pending in the streets, according to the metropolis Aix-Marseille-Provence, which counted about forty strikers out of the 2,000 cleaning agents.
- Demonstration
- Social
- Society
- Pension reform
- National Assembly