“Raise our salaries, not misery”: the protesters took to the sidewalk this Thursday, at the call of the CGT, FSU and Solidaires and youth organizations, to demand salary increases and give a warning shot about pensions, when the executive clarifies his method for reform. The CGT claimed, for this first day of interprofessional mobilization since the beginning of the school year, “more than 250,000” participants in nearly 200 demonstrations in France (compared to “almost 80,000” on March 17 and “more than 150,000” on March 27). from January) .
Some 40,000 demonstrators, according to the organizers, marched in Paris from Denfert-Rochereau to the Bastille, behind a banner that proclaimed: “Increases in wages, social minimums, scholarships and pensions, it is urgent to act!”
The general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martínez, made “an initial notice to the Government and the employers so that wage negotiations can begin quickly” and pointed out, “since it is news”, that the French do not want “to make more work”. “The salary emergency becomes vital for many people,” argued Murielle Guilbert (Solidaires).
“Everything Increased”
Among the protesters, Ibrahima Tell, a 39-year-old hotel employee: “An additional 30 euros a month will not change the situation. What is needed is an increase from 100 to 200 euros. Everything has increased, I can see it in the sector of the restoration (…) And then there is also the energy, the heating (…) Do you want me to put the heating at 19 degrees? I’m dying of cold”, he testifies.
Several leftist politicians were present, including Fabien Roussel (PCF), Mathilde Panot (LFI), Olivier Faure (PS) and Sandrine Rousseau (EELV).
Since morning, several thousand people (4,300 according to the police) had demonstrated in Marseille, in the presence of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI). They were between 3,200 (police) and 4,500 (CGT) in Nantes, 770 in Besançon, more than 2,000 in Toulouse, several hundred in Strasbourg, 500 in Belfort (police), between 1,600 (prefecture) and 3,500 (CGT) in Caen, between 3,500 (police) and 8,500 (unions) in Le Havre or between 1,870 (prefecture) and 3,500 (CGT) in Rouen. In Réunion, a thousand people marched through the streets of Saint-Denis (north of the island) and Saint-Pierre (south).
The Ministry of National Education reported at noon a strike rate of 11.01% among teachers. The Snes-FSU claimed, he, “30% of the strikers” in colleges and secondary schools, while the Snuipp-FSU identified 20% in the primary schools. On the transport side, 3 of the 4 unions, including the CFDT-Cheminots, had called a strike at SNCF. Outages have been reported on certain TGV lines Inoui, Intercités, Ouigo, TER and Transilien in Ile-de-France. On the RATP side, where only the CGT had called a strike, traffic was interrupted on RER B or buses.
The CGT agri-food federation has identified “nearly 400 strike calls” and “at least 50,000 strikers.”
Without CFDT and FO
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced Thursday to AFP that the government would open a new round of consultations with a view to adopting a pension bill “before winter”, which would allow the entry into force in November 2023 of a reform that provides for the “gradual postponement of the retirement age” to 65 in 2031.
“We do not want to negotiate the extension of the retirement age”, warned Philippe Martínez. As for participating in the consultations planned by the executive next week, “if it is to tell us this is what we want and now do what we tell you, we are not going to stay.” The CFDT, which, like FO, did not participate in the mobilization day, indicated that “it will involve it in the discussions” and calls for “loyalty and transparency.”
All the national unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, FSU, Solidaires and Unsa) are due to meet at the Unsa headquarters on Monday. It will be a matter of discussing “the modalities to continue this movement,” said Philippe Martínez, who advocated the “widest possible” unity. The CFDT will go to “build common proposals on the axes of consultation that are opening and counteract the postponement of the age of majority to 65 years,” he said.
The left-wing parties plan a “great march against high prices and climate inaction” on October 16, without the support, for a foreseen time, of the CGT.
Source: BFM TV
