The mobilizations marked time on Tuesday compared to the previous two national days of action against the pension reform, with the strikes in particular having less impact on transport.
United against the postponement of the legal age to 64, the eight main French unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU) intend to continue putting pressure on the executive, after having managed to mobilize the 19 and on January 31, more than a million demonstrators in the streets according to the authorities, double according to the unions, while the deputies began on Monday the examination of the text in the National Assembly. The unions have called for a fourth day of strikes and demonstrations for Saturday, February 11.
• Education
The rate of teachers on strike was 14.17%, including 14.60% in primary and 13.75% in secondary (middle and high school), with eight academies already on vacation, according to the Ministry of National Education. These figures do not take into account zone A (Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon and Poitiers), even during school holidays.
Teacher unions have not given mobilization figures at this stage. On January 31, the rate of teachers on strike was 25.92%, according to the ministry, well below the figures of the unions, which had accounted for at least 50% of strikers. At the Rennes-2 and Jean-Jaurès universities in Toulouse, students voted in favor of the blockade on Monday.
• Transport
Traffic was again very disturbed at the SNCF on Tuesday, but less than during the two previous days of action, the mobilization seems to be marking time, with 25% of strikers against 36% on January 31 and 46% on January 19, from union sources. In detail, there are 57% of strikers among the machinists, 33% among the controllers or 25% among the signalmen, according to these provisional data from midday. The management of the SNCF never communicates a budget.
SNCF Voyageurs canceled 1 out of 2 TGVs on average, almost all Intercités and 7 TER out of 10. The situation was contrasted again in the Paris region, with between a third and a half of the trains on most lines. The railway unions did not call a strike for Saturday, the first day of vacation for zone B (Aix-Marseille and a large arc from Brittany to Alsace except Ile-de-France), but the CGT Cheminots and SUD Rail want to extend the strike on Wednesday.
Disruptions were also significant on the Parisian RATP network, but no metro line was completely shut down. “We did better” than had been advertised, even a spokesperson commented shortly before noon. In addition, the outages were expected to affect many other regional networks on Tuesday.
On the air side, as during the previous two days of strike, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) asked the companies to give up 20% of their flights in Paris-Orly. Air France has canceled just 5% of its short- and medium-haul flights and “plans to carry all booked customers” on Tuesday. The DGAC also noted “some delays in the south-east” due to the air traffic controllers’ strike in the Marseille Montpellier Nice area.
• Energy
The mobilization remained strong at the TotalEnergies refineries and fuel depots which, according to the CGT, had between 75 and 100% strikers. Management estimates the strike rate to be more like 56% versus 55% on January 31 and 65% on January 19. Fuel shipments are blocked, but TotalEnergies says it has stocks in warehouses to prevent shortages at service stations.
On the electricity side, there were 30.3% strikers among the total workforce at noon at EDF according to management, a sharp drop (40.3% on January 31). Electricity production was reduced by 4,120 MW at the end of the morning, the equivalent of four disconnected nuclear reactors, but without causing cuts, according to the group’s website.
The CGT de Loire-Atlantique has demanded an “energy sobriety” of about twenty road cameras in the department.
• Other sectors
At the Bel factory in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, which produces Kiri, Boursin and Cousteron in particular, the production lines “are idling: “We are mobilized”, indicated Xavier Darondeau, elected CFDT in the CSE.
Source: BFM TV
