Joining the ranks of the anti-pension reform demonstration in Paris on Tuesday required “a lot of organisation” from Jean-Marc, a 35-year-old Total operator, because he was supposed to be working nights this week.
The 30-year-old will thus lose two days of night work which, according to him, means “between 200 and 300 euros net”.
“There is the economic cost, but not only. It gets complicated fast when you have kids. I had to leave mine at home with my self-employed wife. So while she takes care of them, she doesn’t work either, “develops this father, who has worked for the oil group for ten years.
“A sacrifice (…) well worth it”
For this reason, some have hesitated to come. This is the case of Maëva, 24, who even admits to having hesitated a bit before going out on Tuesday. “Ah, it is certain and true that we think twice before going on strike in a context of inflation and precariousness like the current one,” this contracted teacher of National Education, who works in the Paris region, confesses to BFMTV.com .
And with good reason, the young woman already knows that she will be able to give up about 95 euros net per day of mobilization, or 190 euros in total, since she had already gone on strike to be able to demonstrate last week. “What made me decide was the online retirement simulator. When he told me that I was at least 67, even 70 years old… that was quickly thought of. I was told that I had no choice, and that I also had my responsibility on this,” he explains.
“It’s a sacrifice, but it’s worth it,” agrees Philippe R., a freelance tour guide in Paris. In order to walk on Tuesday, the 50-year-old was forced to cancel two long-booked tours and consequently cut his salary at the end of the month.
“I wouldn’t do this for a whole month, but as long as I could afford it for a few days, I would,” confesses Jean-Louis, a 58-year-old technician for La Poste, aware of the effort this represents for him but also for the other protesters closest to him. precarious. “It’s a day’s salary that we lose every time,” he laments. “One hundred euros a day, that’s nothing.”
“If I don’t go, who will?”
That is also why the fifty-year-old will be back on the streets this Saturday, on the occasion of a second demonstration organized by the unions in the same week. The inter-union is also betting on the mobilization this weekend to more widely mobilize those who cannot afford to go on strike. On the sidelines of Tuesday’s demonstration, CFDT leader Laurent Berger called for “more form next Saturday.”
“I find it less delicate on the weekend, we commit ourselves less financially. It is something that the yellow vests understood well, I find it. in difficulties, he could afford to participate.
An opinion shared by Valérie Bauche, educator of young children in Montreuil, who will lose 80 euros net per day of strike. “I will also be on Saturday, it costs me nothing. But I still find that two days of mobilization in a week is a lot. If it had been two business days, I don’t know if I would have allowed it with my ridiculous salary,” continues this 58-year-old woman, who the reform should force her to work two more years, until she is 62, and this despite a ” surplus of quarters”.
Precisely for this reason, “out of solidarity” that Benjamin, a Ubisoft computer engineer, decided to come to parade this Tuesday. “If I don’t come, who is going to come?” asks the 32-year-old, who should lose between 150 and 200 euros per day not worked.
“Serene mind” thanks to strike funds
To cushion these strike costs, which can be painful at the end of the month, some had prepared financially in advance. At the end of last year, Christophe, for example, accumulated a small nest egg (the equivalent of around a month’s salary) with a view to mobilizing against the pension reform.
Sophie Lambert, considers herself relatively lucky compared to the others, knowing that she should benefit from contributions from the strike fund set up by the CFDT at the end of the mobilization. Half a century after its creation, the first union of private sector employees has 141 million euros in strike funds. Funds that can only be used to financially help its members who have followed a domestic strike call.
“Fortunately we have this solidarity system that allows you to come a little calmer, with a little more spirit,” the section secretary of the Melun-les-Mureaux (Yvelines) hospital explains to BFMTV.com, who would otherwise lose his lap. 80 euros net per day of strike. “Three/four free shuttles have also been provided by the union organization” in order to allow all the employees of the establishment who wanted to attend the demonstration “without having to touch their wallets to be able to demonstrate.”
Source: BFM TV
