The strike against the pension reform continues on Friday. 806,000 protesters took to the streets on Thursday according to the Interior Ministry. Friday, the traffic is still very disturbed to the SNCF or the RATP in Ile-de-France. Only one TGV out of ten will be in circulation for example. On the side of the schools or more broadly of the public service, the mobilization was also strong. The unions, like Yves Veyrier, secretary general of FO, relied on work stoppages in the private sector. For the moment it is much less marked.
Private employees did not mobilize en masse. In the old public companies or in the big industrial companies there were nevertheless walkouts: 6% of strikers at Orange, work stoppages also in some Renault factories. This was the case in Cleon or Douai, where part of the activity was also partly blocked. At PSA, there were also some work stoppages even though the management believes it was very limited.
Strong mobilization in refineries
In the automotive supplier Valéo, we can note about 4% of strikers. On the refineries side, the mobilization was more marked. No products could go out in seven of the country's eight refineries, according to the unions.
The most prominent sites remain those affected or threatened by social plans: at General Electric in Belfort or at Merck in Riom. This subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company is threatened with closure: 280 strikers out of 500 employees according to the unions. But this remains an exception.