8:40 p.m .: Fabien Roussel (PCF), Boris Vallaud (PS), Marine Tondelier (EELV) and the other Nupes political leaders are about to speak, when the face of Elisabeth Borne, about to announce a raising the starting age to 64, appears on the screen.

The crowd boos her copiously.

In total contrast to what preceded, when the thousand people gathered in the Olympe de Gouge room in Paris, full to bursting, feverishly sang a cover of "I will survive": "We want to live, not just survive, retirement at 60, work better and for less time!".

At the podium, François Ruffin vilifies an Elisabeth Borne who came "to issue a sentence behind her desk: two more years for forklift drivers, truck drivers, cleaning women".

"It is for them that it will weigh the most on the shoulders, the knees, while for the ministers it is an arbitration, it is abstract", he is indignant.

"You have to touch hearts (...), awaken joy, pride" against "resignation".

The whole of the left, from the socialists to France Insoumise via the ecologists, has already called to rally the first day of union mobilization against the reform, on January 19.

ZAD

During the meeting, speaking time is strictly limited to seven minutes because the speakers - and the left-wing parties - are numerous.

The leader of the rebellious deputies Mathilde Panot relies on affects, evoking "the more joyful energy" in the crowd than "the gray mine of Elisabeth Borne".

The boss of the Greens Marine Tondelier promises a "National Assembly transformed into a ZAD" (zone to defend) and a "street where 49.3 does not exist".

The boss of the Greens Marine Tondelier during a Nupes meeting in Paris, January 10, 2023 © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Previously, a home help, a handler, an employee at the National Forestry Office and a sales consultant to Leroy Merlin have said all the bad things they think about this reform.

“Each employee loads or unloads four or five trailers per hour,” says Mouloud Sahraoui, handler at Geodis.

"These politicos are completely crazy" for "wanting to kill us at work".

In the public, Françoise Bazire, a 74-year-old retiree, rejoices with AFP: "It's this mix, steps have been taken".

She "dares to hope" that the left is strong enough to support the unions.

Gaëlle Salin, 45, pouted: "I would like the union between unions and left-wing parties, but that's not on the agenda".

Because if the Nupes did call to join the union mobilization on January 19, the unions do not support the march acclaimed two days later by the Insoumis.

The evening ended with the title "J'veux du soleil", the name of one of François Ruffin's documentaries.

Elected officials and members of Nupes gathered around François Ruffin (d) during a meeting in Paris, January 10, 2023 © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

The deputy of the Somme, who cultivates his independence within LFI, was behind this raout organized by his newspaper Fakir with the online magazine Reporterre.

And this meeting preceded the first official meeting of the Nupes on pensions, on January 17 in Paris.

"I can see that you are going to look for the little beast, but Mélenchon (currently in Guyana, editor's note) retweeted today's meeting, so no ambiguity", assured François Ruffin to the journalists.

© 2023 AFP