Is the executive afraid of the street? The eight unions represented at the national level are organizing a day of mobilization against the pension reform this Thursday, January 19, posing to the government the threat of a “paralyzed France” that day if “the workers decide,” according to the general secretary. from the CGT, Philippe Martinez, put it on BFMTV a few days ago.
The government walks on eggshells. His project is widely rejected by the French. Among them, 60% say they “support” or feel “sympathetic” with respect to the mobilization against the pension reform, according to a survey by Elabe for BFMTV. In response to this rejection, the unions will present a united front.
This is the first time since 2010. At that time, it was already about jointly opposing the pension reform. Led by the Minister of Labor Éric Woerth, it consisted of extending the legal age of departure from 60 to 62 years.
“We can do better” than in 1995
But the unions have mostly the year 1995 in the retro. That year, 2 million French people took to the streets to protest against the Juppé plan on pensions and social security. The mobilization had paralyzed the country for almost a month.
“It’s a good reference”, judged Philippe Martínez on BFMTV, without forgetting to press: “We can do better than in 1995, because there is fed up”.
On Thursday, the CGT has the presence of more than a million people in the streets. To anticipate this figure, Philippe Martínez explained that it was based on the “number of buses ordered to go to the demonstrations”, on the “strike notices that have been presented for a long time” in public services and transport, and on the many employees “who call us to ask how we are going on strike.
It will be “a very strong mobilization,” acknowledged Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt, who hopes to see “people on the street.”
The executive is waiting to see the scope of the mobilization
Opposite, the presidential camp is mobilized, seeking in particular to educate about the reform. A strategy for which his ally François Bayrou again advocated this weekend on BFMTV.
In this sense, most are organized. Thus, we could see the representative of the North Violette Spillebout distributing flyers this weekend and exchanging with the inhabitants of her constituency, in a report broadcast by BFMTV.
For the government, it is also “not to excite, not to add fuel to the fire”, analyzes Matthieu Croissandeau on BFMTV. The executive, for the moment, “maintains a low profile” and “waits to see the scope of the mobilization,” estimates our political editorialist.
“Risky Paris”
According to political scientist Stéphane Rozès, interviewed on BFMTV, the government is making a “bet”: that “basically, the French are too concerned with everyday issues”, which “would prevent the formation of movements”. If “he is partly right”, according to Stéphane Rozès, he nevertheless judges the “risky bet”.
“From the yellow vests we know that everything is unstable. The pension movement is not going to stop the country, but it can serve as a crystallizer for multiple concerns, ”he explains.
And these are not lacking, as demonstrated by the various social movements that have animated the country in recent months.
Source: BFM TV
