Refineries, transport, public service, education… Barely two days after the announcements by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne on the pension reform project, the eight main unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires , FSU) foresee a “powerful” mobilization on January 19. The secretary general of the CGT Philippe Martinez even plans to “do better” than in 1995, in a context where the ferments of anger are numerous.
Elisabeth Borne on Thursday called on the unions to “not penalize the French” in their mobilization against the pension reform. “For the unions, this is a call for responsibility,” said the Prime Minister on the sidelines of a trip. at Disneyland Paris. “There is a right to strike, there is a right to demonstrate”, but “it is also important not to penalize the French”, she warned. In some sectors, the strike could be renewed on January 26 as well as February 6. What to expect?
The call for a strike by the CGT unions in the oil branch revives the bad memory, which is still too fresh, of the blocking of fuel depots in the fall of 2022. This Thursday, January 12, the sector’s union representatives invited employees to mobilize several days: January 19 and 26, as well as February 6 with “if necessary, the shutdown of refining facilities”, according to a press release issued by Éric Sellini, national coordinator of the union for TotalEnergies. The appeal will lead to “decreases in flow” and stoppages in the shipment of fuels, he told AFP.
But if these announcements run the risk of a new paralysis of the refineries, the government refuses to be part of a logic of “face to face” with the organizations of employees The movement must begin with a first work stoppage of 24 hours on January 19, day of national interprofessional mobilization. For January 26, the CGT calls for a 48-hour strike, then 72 hours on February 6.
The unions of large transport companies such as the SNCF or the RATP announced, on Wednesday, their determination to oppose the pension reform At the SNCF, the message of the inter-union composed of the CGT, Unsa, SUD and the CFDT is clear: “total opposition to the decline in the legal retirement age to 64 accompanied by an increase in the contribution period”. In addition, the four organizations “are ready to launch the necessary battle” and call in a press release “for a powerful strike” in the railways on January 19. “Division and inaction have no place”, insisted the four railway federations which call on the management of the SNCF not to “be the relay of this counter-reform”.
On the RATP side, where 40,000 employees are subject to a special pension plan that the government intends to reform, the CGT, FO, Unsa and CFE-CGC unions have indicated that they are “ready” to oppose it. without launching a strike notice on pensions for the moment. The reform project would shift the legal retirement age by two years, including for employees with RATP status who can take early retirement. The modification of the contribution period would also concern them, denounces the inter-union.
If the employees of the SNCF and the RATP in post before the reform will keep their pension plan under the clause of the “grandfather”, the new entrants will be affiliated to the general plan. “For new hires, it is the failure to take into account the hardship specific to their activity. This is unacceptable!”, Are indignant the unions.
The public service inter-union also invited all agents on Wednesday to mobilize against a pension reform deemed “unfair and unnecessary”, in particular by participating “massively” in the day of strike scheduled for January 19. In a rare joint press release, the eight trade union organizations representing the public service – in the order CGT, FO, CFDT, Unsa, FSU, Solidaires, CFE-CGC and FA-FP – “demand from the government the withdrawal of its project of to postpone the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 and to increase the contribution period”.
“The improvements mentioned in the rights of male and female agents through the introduction of gradual retirement in certain cases, the preservation of the rights linked to active service and henceforth their portability, can in no way compensate for the decline in the retirement age. ‘opening of pension rights or the extension of the contribution period,’ they say.
If the FSU, the first teacher union federation, has already launched a call for mobilization in education on January 17, on wages, working conditions and the professional path, the organization is also joining the general strike of January 19 January. She denounces “brutal and unjust measures” that “we must fight with all our strength”, in a press release published on January 10. “Quality of public service, salaries, pensions, it is always a question of the distribution of wealth, the government is opening up several fronts, let’s be present on all of them!”, she concludes. The mobilization of January 17 will take place on the eve of a resumption of consultations between the Ministry of Education and the unions on the revaluation of teachers’ salaries, which started in October.