The eight main French unions have called for two new days of strikes and demonstrations on Tuesday February 7 and Saturday February 11.

Education

Teachers' unions have counted at least 50% of strikers among teachers, from kindergarten to high school.

In Paris but not only, schools remained closed.

On the student side, rallies took place on Tuesday morning, as on the Saint-Charles site of Aix-Marseille University.

Sciences Po Paris was occupied during the night by about fifty students who emptied the premises in the morning.

Transport

At the airports, it was mainly the strike by air traffic controllers that caused disruptions and delays.

Gare du Nord in Paris, January 31, 2023 © Ludovic MARIN / AFP

The cancellation of one in five flights was requested from Paris-Orly by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to match the available staff and the expected traffic.

In Nice, 18 rotations were canceled out of 90.

In rail, more than a third of railway workers (36.5%) went on strike according to a union source, less than on January 19 (46.3%).

But 75% of the SNCF trains planned outside Ile-de-France have been canceled, i.e. 423 TGV out of 650 (65%) and 6,706 TER out of 8,901 (75%).

In Ile-de-France, the suburbs were practically not served with one train out of ten, on average, on lines C, D, E, J, L, N, P and R which, for the most part between them, only operated at peak times and/or on part of their route.

In the Paris metro, traffic was very disrupted, and only automatic lines 1 and 14 ran normally, while the service of buses and trams is provided at 80%.

An entrance to the Place de la République metro station in Paris, January 31, 2023 © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Disturbances also affected the Lyon metro, the trams of Bordeaux, the buses of Rennes.

In Marseille, one of the two metro lines and one of the three tram lines were at a standstill, the others slowed down.

In Nice, no tram has circulated, as well as 25 bus lines.

In Corsica, several sea crossings between the island and Marseille have been postponed until Wednesday.

Civil service and private sector

There were 19.4% of strikers among state officials, according to the Ministry of Public Service, against 28% twelve days ago.

Town halls, like that of Paris, have kept their doors closed.

The communist town halls of Vénissieux (Rhône), Echirolles (Isère) or Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) closed for half a day.

At La Poste, 8.79% of employees were on strike, according to management, against 14.64% the last time.

Energy

On the electricity side, mobilization was down slightly.

The management of Engie identified 34.3% of strikers and that of EDF 46.5% at the end of the day, against 50% on January 19.

Shift teams deprived the company of part of its electricity production, with a loss of power of up to 5 gigawatts in the second part of the day (the equivalent of five nuclear reactors), according to RTE.

Another three-day strike will take place in refineries and the rest of the energy sector on February 6, 7 and 8, at the call of the CGT.

In Vienne, "Robin Hood" actions to reconnect electricity to cut homes have been claimed by the CGT.

bur-clr-nal-sb/ico/mpm

© 2023 AFP