The SNCF, farmers, the airline sector and even civil servants called a strike during the month of November. Mobilizations are already planned for several dates and they could last until the end of the year.
The month of November promises to be busy with social movements as several calls for strikes have been launched for the days to come. Farmers who express their anger, only a few months after a mobilization which lasted several weeks at the start of the year, and demand to be able to make a living from their profession after a difficult year in terms of harvests and while a health crisis affects the breedings. But many other sectors are mobilizing against social plans and budgetary measures serving the State and are looking for 60 billion euros in savings.
Several calls for strikes in sectors having nothing to do with each other have been launched, at least four are planned for the week of November 11 to 17. Others are announced for the following weeks. And the ball of strikes begins this Tuesday, November 12, which filed a strike notice in force until dawn on Wednesday, November 13. The Ile-de-France transport authority is opposed to the opening to competition for RATP buses, which it considers to be a “pretext for incessant attacks on the workforce, on [les] working conditions and [les] remuneration”. However, the strike movement must have no impact on transport circulation in Ile-de-France as specified by the RATP in Release. Other calls for mobilization, however, could lead to disruptions.
Airline pilots strike on November 14
The national union of airline pilots (SNPL), largely in the majority in the profession, is calling for a strike this Thursday, November 14. A strike which is accompanied by a call for demonstrations in front of the National Assembly against the government’s proposal to take “an additional billion euros per year from the airline sector” via taxes. The initiative was relayed by several other unions – UNSA transport, UNSA PNC, CFE-CGC FNEMA, UNAC, SNPNC-FO and FEETS-FO – which invite “all employees in the airline sector to come and demonstrate their disagreement with this lethal taxation for jobs” in the airline sector.
The deputies voted to increase taxation on plane tickets, limiting the measure to a duration of one year and excluding flights to overseas territories and Corsica from the system. Tickets should increase from 2€60 to 9€50 per person for European flights, from 7€50 to 15€ for intermediate destinations and from 7€50 to 40€ for long-haul flights according to the general budget rapporteur, Charles de Courson.
Farmer mobilizations from November 15
Farmers’ mobilizations have resumed in some places with strong actions in certain departments, but the movement risks gaining momentum from mid-November at the call of the two majority unions, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers. (JA). The organizations invite farmers to carry out actions throughout the territory. They warn that without a rapid and satisfactory response from the State, they could get tougher by blocking roads and the movement of food freight, as at the start of the year. This protest is taking place a few months before the professional elections in the agricultural sector, while the government claims to have implemented two thirds of the measures promised after the January protest.
The heavy rains, which reduced cereal harvests by 40% and the mobilizations at the start of the year which remained unanswered, are going badly. Added to this are the negotiations on an agreement between Mercorsur (economic alliance of South American countries) and Europe. France is opposed to the signing of the agreement pushed by European neighbors and farmers are putting pressure so that the agreement which would be unfavorable to it and would lead to unfair competition does not pass.
Strike at the SNCF from November 20 to 22, then in December?
The railway unions have also called a strike from the evening of Wednesday November 20 until the morning of Friday November 22. Several union organizations, including the CGT-Cheminots, the Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots, warn that this mobilization is “an ultimatum” before “a longer and stronger strike movement in December” if the government and SNCF are not responding to their demands. They have also filed a notice of indefinite strike starting on Wednesday, December 11, which will be renewable for 24-hour periods. At the SNCF, it is the announced dismantling of Fret SNCF and the terms of the opening to competition of regional lines which are pushing for mobilization.
Civil servants on the streets in early December
On the civil service side, the FO and the CGT are calling for a strike, but the movement is not yet clearly defined. The two unions were invited to a meeting with the Minister of Civil Service, Guillaume Kasbarian, which ended in failure. The minister wants to extend the waiting period for the civil service to three days, compared to one currently. “We will take the minister’s game at its word: three days of waiting time, three days of strike,” replied the secretary general of the UIAFP-FO, Christian Grolier. The day of the strike movement has not yet been communicated, but union leaders have raised the possibility of mobilization “at the beginning of December”.