Lionel Gougelot, edited by Laura Laplaud 14:12 pm, March 17, 2023

After the triggering of 49.3 by Elisabeth Borne Thursday at the National Assembly to adopt the pension reform, the garbage collectors of Arques near Saint-Omer in the North of the France went on strike. The objective is clear, to make the movement in the long term to make the executive retreat.

The day after the use of 49.3 by Elisabeth Borne to adopt the pension reform, several demonstrations took place on the territory such as in Paris, Toulon or Arques near Saint-Omer in the North of France. Garbage collectors went on strike to protest against the pension reform. One of the three waste collection centers in the agglomeration has been blocked since that night.

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"We're going to block the whole weekend"

The pickup trucks remained in the warehouse on Friday morning. In total, seven trucks were blocked in the early morning, access to the site was closed by a picket line. 110 tons of waste will not be collected this Friday in a part of the agglomeration of Saint-Omer. A first response to the passage in force of the reform, according to David Werner, CFDT head of the community of communes. "For us, 49.3 is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Not going to the vote and passing this reform like that... We feel that the agents are determined and here, we will block all weekend, so we do not know where it will stop, but we feel the agents determined, "he said.

© Lionel Gougelot / Europe 1

Objective: to make the strike sustainable

The agents want to make the waste collection strike sustainable. According to Emmanuelle Poli, CFDT secretary of communal agents, this hardening is the fault of the government. "If the vote had been done and it had not passed, it stopped there and everyone would have been quietly at his workstation. Today, this is not the case," she said.

>> READ ALSO – Pensions: with the 49.3, the intelligence expects a radicalization of the protest

"Obviously, we have revitalized the troops without any action, it is the government itself that has reinvigorated the troops. I have a house myself, I have garbage cans myself, I myself may be bothered by this problem. But do I take the version where I don't have garbage cans for a week, two weeks or do I take the version of working until 64?" she asks at the microphone of Europe 1.

Raising the retirement age to 64 is considered impossible for these agents with particularly arduous jobs. They will participate in the next day of action next week.