Will the weeks follow one another and will they be the same? After the success of January 19, the unions managed to put even more people on the streets on Tuesday the 31st against the pension reform. CFDT, CGT, FO, FSU and other components of the inter-union have already called two new days of strikes and demonstrations, on February 7 and 11. Reformers or not, all the organizations continue to mobilize the French. BFMTV.com takes stock of the reasons that the social conflict is likely to continue.
Even so, it was the fear of several CGT directors, but the CFDT, more reformist, does not let go. During the Parisian demonstration on Tuesday, Laurent Berger finished off his arguments against the government’s plan and stressed the unity of the trade union movement.
Although the dissension seemed to arise between the formations of the inter-union, one part advocating for days of close actions and the other wanting a mobilization on the weekend, a compromise was found. The unions call for strikes and demonstrations for Tuesday 7 and Saturday 11 February.
They want to take advantage of the strong mobilization, with a strong rise in many intermediate cities compared to January 19, and continue to put pressure on the executive, accentuating the balance of power.
• Because the government continues to believe in its reform
For its part, the government does not seem to budge an inch: it is not about panicking on the side of the executive.
Especially since the rate of strikers, in many sectors, has dropped compared to January 19. “As this number is falling, it would be difficult for them to start a renewable strike. If there is a big demonstration every ten days, that will not make us go back”, a government source believes to know. This Tuesday night, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke on social media.
“The parliamentary debate opens. It will allow, in transparency, to enrich our project with an objective: to ensure the future of our distribution system. It is our responsibility!”
• Because the parliamentary calendar will be intensified until the end of March
In the National Assembly, the deputies of the Social Affairs Commission began the debates in Parliament on Monday. Between invectives and obstructions, the discussions of these first hours were particularly tense.
But the debate has only just begun and will intensify in the coming weeks. The Social Affairs Committee will close its work this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. Then, the deputies will examine the text in the chamber from Monday 6 to Friday 17 February.
Coincidence of the calendar, parliamentary holidays will take place from February 20 to 26. Therefore, the senators will debate the text from Monday, February 27 to March 12.
Once the reform is approved by the Upper House, deputies and senators will try to agree on a joint commission. The Senate and National Assembly will then have to validate the text that will come out by final vote, before March 26.
• Because pensions can become an “anger catalyst”
Finally, the mobilization against the pension reform could also be the basis of a broader movement against the policies of Emmanuel Macron. According to a poll by Odoxa for the Public Senate, 63% of the French believe that the tenant of the Elysée “is not a good president of the Republic.”
Above all because, in the processions, the demonstrators do not only cite the pension reform as motivation. “The issue of pensions can serve as a catalyst for anger,” he warned on Tuesday in the parisian Raymond Soubie, social adviser to former President Nicolas Sarkozy during the 2010 pension reform.
The Odoxa poll for the Public Senate also attests to the government’s difficulties in the battle of opinion. Thus, in the event of major blockades during the demonstrations against the pension reform, 64% of the French would hold the government responsible.
Source: BFM TV
