Towards a “black week”? The next mobilization against the pension reform could well extend beyond Tuesday, March 7. “We’re up a gear“, warned the general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martínez.
In the viewer: renewable strikes to harden the movement, after having shelled the days of mobilizations since the beginning of the year. But, if some union federations have already announced initiatives in this sense, it is difficult to anticipate the scope of the movement for several days.
However, the first signs will be given quickly, starting on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, the day after the general mobilization day, to see if the calls for renewable unemployment are followed specifically in the strategic sectors. In fact, the federations will question their members every night to determine whether or not they want to continue the movement the next day.
In the SNCF and the RATP, all the unions have already called a renewable strike starting this Tuesday, predicting major disruptions in transport. Especially since March 7 promises to be one of the most followed days since the beginning of the movement. “Surely things will not stop on the afternoon of March 7 or on the morning of March 8”, the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, had already estimated. The SNCF unions will also take stock of the general mobilization at the end of the week, before deciding on the consequences of their own mobilization.
Truckers and garbage collectors
On the energy side, the CGT mentioned selective cuts, blockades or even “Robin Hood” type operations. The union has also called for a renewables strike at refineries: some motorists have taken the initiative at service stations fearing fuel shortages, even if distributors secure their ability to supply service stations. The strikers intend, initially, to block shipments from the refineries to the warehouses, without stopping the refineries.
The situation, this time, could also be complicated on certain roads. Highway carriers are mobilizing by operating filter barriers to slow down traffic, especially heavy vehicle traffic. Slowdowns were observed on Monday near Lille or Rouen. But not all the unions are on the same line: the FNTL FO-UNCP wants to sustain the movement for several days, unlike the majority union FGTE-CFDT, which for the moment only calls for mobilization on Tuesday, March 7.
Newcomers to the movement, the garbage collectors could also enter into a renewable strike starting March 7 at the initiative of the CGT – the trade union center in particular is the majority in Paris. Other sectors will also be subject to scrutiny in the coming days, such as construction, commerce or air transport.
Source: BFM TV
