"School closed on January 19": in Marseille as elsewhere, signs began to appear on the gates on Friday.

"The whole teaching team will be on strike", even specified one of them, in the center of the Marseille city.

Proof that the pension reform, which aims to raise the legal retirement age to 64, "is a major concern" for teachers, believes Virginie Akliouat, head of the Snuipp-FSU union in the Bouches-du-Rhône, which expects a movement very followed in National Education.

Already during the previous reform attempt at the end of 2019, the first day had been marked by a strike rate of more than 50% in the primary according to the ministry.

The trend for Thursday should be known quickly, since school teachers must declare their intention to stop work at least 48 hours before - an obligation which does not exist in colleges and high schools.

Same notice period for RATP and SNCF, whose traffic forecasts will be announced around 5:00 p.m.

In Parisian transport, the unions have called for "a powerful strike", especially since the government wants to abolish, in the long term, their special pension scheme, as it has already done for that of railway workers.

Three years ago traffic had been "extremely disrupted" in the capital, with in particular 11 metro lines closed out of 16, while barely one train in ten had circulated in the country on the first day of a social conflict which had gone on for many weeks.

Strong test

This time, the scenario of a renewable movement is taking shape rather in the energy sector, where "reductions in electricity production" are to be expected, without "going to blackout", warned the leader of the FNME-CGT Sébastien Menesplier, evoking possible local "cuts" targeting elected officials "who support the reform".

"We are working on well-targeted regional actions", confirms Franck Redondo, FO manager at the Gravelines nuclear power plant (North), predicting "a strong mobilization on Thursday" and already planning "on other days of action".

A ramp-up is also looming in refineries, with 24-hour notice on Thursday, then 48 hours next week and 72 hours in early February.

At the TotalEnergies depot in Dunkirk "the employees are very upset" against the reform, says CGT secretary Benjamin Salvino, who is counting on activity almost at a standstill on Thursday, but without immediate consequences in service stations.

Slightly more numerous shortages than usual were however observed on Monday morning, with 3.75% of points of sale running out of petrol or diesel and up to 18% in Yvelines, a sign of a possible fear of missed by some motorists.

The government is also anticipating these disturbances, like the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, predicting on Sunday "that there will be people in the street" while hoping "that this does not result in a blockage of the country".

Comments made on public broadcasting, whose programs should be largely disrupted on Thursday.

Not enough to dissuade the united unions from going to the showdown.

CFDT number one Laurent Berger is thus expecting a "massive" movement on Thursday, while his CGT counterpart Philippe Martinez is hoping for "millions" of strikers and demonstrators.

The petition launched last week by the eight main employee organizations against "unjust and brutal reform" has so far exceeded 400,000 signatures.

© 2023 AFP