After receiving the green light from the Constitutional Council to postpone the legal retirement age to 64, Emmanuel Macron promulgated the reform this Saturday. But the unions do not intend to stop there. The inter-union called to make May 1 “a day of exceptional popular mobilization against the pension reform and for social justice.” It also maintains that in the next 15 days there will be “actions and strikes” organized “locally.” Here’s what you can expect in the coming weeks.
This Monday, when Emmanuel Macron will speak at 8:00 p.m., the “Attac” association called for a “pan concert”. An initiative supported by the Solidaires union. “There will also be meetings in front of the town halls,” Simon Duteil, his general co-delegate, specifies on BFMTV.
In addition, since Thursday, the garbage cans have returned to dirty the streets of Paris after a new call for a strike by the garbage collectors. As in the previous movement in March, the strike notice of the CGT in the waste and sanitation sector in Paris is articulated with a movement to block the incinerators, whose agents are linked to the energy sector. Around 50% of the garbage collectors were on strike on Friday according to CGT-FTDNEEA.
Interruptions on April 20
The CGT wants “highlights” on April 20 and 28. Between “today and May 1 there will be various mobilizations, actions, strikes and demonstrations that will help push the government back down,” Thomas Vacheron, a member of the CGT’s confederal office, told Franceinfo on Sunday.
The rail network will be interrupted on Thursday, April 20. The four representative unions of the SNCF called for a “day of expression of rail anger”. An appointment presented as a “preparatory stage” for the demonstrations on May 1.
This date is important since April 20 falls on the eve of school holidays in the Parisian and Occitan regions and a cross-weekend in other areas already on holidays.
Mobilization on April 28
Riots are also expected on April 28 due to a call by the CGT. A day that will focus “on pensions” but also about “those killed on the job,” said Thomas Vacheron of the CGT.
That day, hospital inmates will be on strike but not related to the pension reform. They want to denounce their working conditions and demand a salary increase. The main union, Isni, asks for an increase “of at least 300 gross euros per month.”
For its part, the CFDT prefers to focus on “a great day of mobilization on May 1”, not joining the CGT in the next two days of mobilization. “There are no cracks in the inter-union, but rather a demand for collective rigor,” Laurent Berger, CFDT general secretary, told France 2 on Monday.
Source: BFM TV
