The calm before the storm? Yesterday was the third day of mobilization against the government’s pension reform, the first during school holidays. New circumstances that partly explain the lower rates of strikers observed in most of the mobilized activity sectors. The scale of the strikes should be further reduced on the occasion of the fourth day of mobilization that takes place this Saturday, in the middle of the weekend of the first crossing of vacationers.
For the inter-union, this time it is about giving the possibility to employees and other public who cannot go on strike during the week to join the mobilization. Yesterday, the inter-union union published a press release in which it sets the tone for Saturday’s day: “The inter-union union calls on the entire population to demonstrate even more massively on Saturday, February 11 throughout the territory to say no to this reform “.
The RATP, a rare strike ground?
After the success of the second day of mobilization on Tuesday, January 31, the inter-union announced that same afternoon the dates of February 7 and 11 as the next deadlines. It was then a matter of maintaining and even strengthening the mobilization by accompanying it with strikes in the greatest possible number of sectors of activity. Little by little, various organizations decided to call only to participate in the multiple processions on Saturday the 11th and concentrate the strikes on the day of February 7. On the SNCF side, this was the case of the CFDT and UNSA.
“The interest is that there are people in this demonstration so we will not call a strike,” explained Fabien Villedieu, representative of the SUD-Rail union, on the BFMTV antenna. We want there to be a tsunami on Saturday the 11th in manifestation and for that, we know that there are stories of train galleys.
The other major railway workers unions, the CGT and SUD-Rail, have decided to make up for this absence of strikes on the 11th with operations on Wednesday, February 8. As well as the CGT-FNME (National Federation of Mines and Energy) and the FNIC-CGT (National Federation of Chemical Industries) in the energy sector.
Therefore, the RATP remains the only gray area of the day on Saturday. So far, none of the union organizations have formally indicated that they will abandon the February 11 strike in favor of an even larger demonstration. “For 11, the goal is to have as many people as possible, that the entire sector and those who cannot move during the week have a door to do so,” said Cémil Kaygiziz, general secretary of the CGT RATP-Bus. on BFMTV last week. In case interruptions are expected, the company should communicate its traffic forecasts tomorrow in the late afternoon.
Is it valid again from February 16 or after the holidays?
By adopting this angle of attack for the day on Saturday, the unions want to retain the favor of public opinion by avoiding penalizing the French from zones A and B who go on vacation. Furthermore, if the weekend mobilizations are conducive to attracting additional types of protesters, they are kept organized on days usually dedicated to the rest of the workers.
For the inter-union, it is therefore a matter of maintaining massive support for the protest while yesterday a first slowdown was observed compared to January 19 and 31. In this sense, he is already planning for the following week and has just indicated that Thursday, February 16, would be the scene of the fifth day of mobilization against the government’s pension reform.
However, the unions seem to see even the longer term in a context of school holidays that should, come what may, prevent the full potential of social unrest from being exploited. According to information from RMC, the inter-union will meet soon to decide the start date of renewable strikes. She could opt for Wednesday March 8, a women’s rights day with a symbolic meaning since they are among the main victims of the pension reform in the eyes of their opponents.
Source: BFM TV
