In France, Thursday March 23, more than three million people marched in the streets to oppose the pension reform. On the eve of the tenth day of mobilization, scheduled for Tuesday March 28, the challenge to the pension reform continues. In the ranks of demonstrators, new faces appeared with more and more young people. Students, but also high school students join the workers.
The blockages are likely to intensify in high schools, since the high school students’ unions are again calling for blocking from this Monday, March 27 and for the whole week. Last Thursday, 400 high schools were blocked in France, while the general mobilization recorded a strong rebound with more than three million people on the streets, according to the unions.
” For high school students, it is very important to be part of this movement which today is interprofessional, intergenerational. Already because it concerns us, because we have relatives who will be very quickly concerned. We do not necessarily want to see them work even longer, in sometimes very precarious and very complicated conditions. And then, simply because this reform affects us, it is our future », explains Charlotte Moisan, of the national high school student movement (MNL).
The high school student leader believes that the pension reform echoes various government measures affecting high schools : reform of the baccalaureate, reform of the professional path… “ All these new reforms which really endanger our sectors, our future professions and our retirement “, she says, before continuing : “ It is really a policy that is carried out, which goes against the society that we advocate. There are always more high school girls and high school students who join the mobilization, seeing how much they don’t want to hear us. So, we are calling for a strike and a blockade all week long, to show that we are all extremely determined. »
” A fire that can spread quickly »
Be careful, it is not always the same dispute between young people and workers, says Christian Dufour, sociologist and expert on trade unionism at the Canadian Center for Interuniversity Research on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) :
“ Experience shows that you can have outbreaks that are extremely localized and do not last. On the other hand, it is the kind of fire that can spread relatively quicklyhe believes. What seems to be happening is that there is a thematic shift. The theme of pensions remains, but that added a political question on the regime, on the legitimacy of the practices of this government. There, indeed, there can be themes that almost everyone can add, high school students, students like the others. There are plenty of themes of discontent that indeed can provide fuel to kindle the fire that may be brewing. »
And the sociologist to conclude : “ We can clearly see that the political parties are not up to the task at the moment. It is not known who can control this kind of movement. Incidents in this area are always local incidents that later take on a national turn, which take on a national symbolism. »
►Also read: Pensions in France: the key points of the reform