The Paris garbage collectors’ strike, which has led to tons of rubbish piling up in the streets of the French capital since March 6, will be suspended from Wednesday, trade union organization CGT announced on Tuesday.
“We must return to dialogue with the agents of the waste and sanitation sector of the city of Paris to return to the strike stronger (…), because we are almost out of strikers,” the union acknowledged in a statement CGT-FTDNEA , which brings together garbage collectors, sewage treatment workers and garbage truck drivers.
Today, the 23rd day of the strike, waste collection in Paris remains disrupted, with a total of about 7,000 tonnes of uncollected waste, up from more than 10,000 checked last Friday, according to the capital’s French commune.
Paris police forced contingents of municipal officials to work through legal channels and sent anti-riot units to open garbage truck garages and clear the three blocked waste incinerators in the Paris region.
France is today facing another day of strikes and demonstrations against pension reform, the 10th in two months of strong and sometimes violent social protest that has brought millions to the streets.
The new pension law – approved using a constitutional provision to pass the text without a parliamentary vote – raises the retirement age without financial penalties from 62 to 64 in France.
The last day of protest, last Thursday, mobilized between 1.08 million people (according to the police) and 3.5 million people (figures from the trade union federation General Confederation of Work) in various manifestations, some marked by violent incidents: a police station was Lorient was attacked, demonstrators set fire to the town hall in Bordeaux and riots and vandalism were reported in Paris.
Garbage that has accumulated in the streets of Paris has been used by some protesters to set fire to public roads.
Source: DN
