The CGT called for a general mobilization “for employment and industry” this Thursday, December 12. Several sectors are mobilized, particularly in industry, transport and education.
This December 12 marks an important new day of mobilization, one week after that of the civil service. This gathering brought together 200,000 people in 160 processions in France according to the CGT and 130,000 according to the authorities. 18.61% of the 2.5 million civil service agents had gone on strike according to the Ministry of Civil Service. The strikers were mainly from National Education (at least 31%).
This movement takes place in the midst of a political crisis with the censorship of Michel Barnier’s government and the expectation of the appointment of a new Prime Minister. Unions from different sectors continue to express their anger during various mobilizations. For this December 12, the CGT has launched a call for mobilization “for employment and industry”. She wishes to warn against the multiplication of social plans: “300 layoff plans” have been registered since September 2023 according to the union with more than 130 plans concentrated on the period July-December 2024, including 112 in the September period alone to December.
Nearly 119 mobilizations are planned across 76 departments – half consisting of rallies and demonstrations on public roads and in front of prefectures and other institutions, the other half planning struggle actions on work sites – according to the last CGT statement. The video game sector is also mobilizing following the financial crisis of the French studios Don’t Nod and Ubisoft.
Some education unions also called for organizing an act 2 of the mobilization this Thursday, December 12. The FSU, the CGT Educ’action and SUD Éducation thus called for new mobilization in a joint press release : “Salaries, working conditions, budget, contempt, that’s enough! We will not be able to accept a new austerity budget which would take up the contested measures, for example, the job cuts or the anti-civil servant measures of the resigning minister Guillaume Kasbarian “. The strike could lead to disruptions in student reception. Thursday “will be a day of convergence with the strike of railway workers against the dismantling of rail freight and that of civil servants who are demanding a budget that meets needs”, declared the leader of the CGT, Sophie, to Agence France Presse. Binet.
The mobilizations could last for the next few weeks, or even resume next year. If Sophie Binet’s CGT is calling for a strike now, branches of the Force Ouvrière union have announced that they are suspending calls for strikes on December 10, 11 and 12, “pending guidance from the new government.” and have already filed a strike notice from January 1 to March 31, 2025.
The SNCF strike intensifies
At the SNCF, the unions had long planned to begin an indefinite strike, renewable for 24-hour periods, from December 11 to oppose the dismantling of the freight service and the introduction of competition for certain regional lines. But the movement turns out to be less important than announced after the withdrawals of the Unsa-Ferroviaire and CFDT-Cheminots unions who gave up the mobilization after the signing of an agreement with management concerning the future of freight and TER railway workers. transferred to subsidiaries by January 1. But the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail have indeed gone on strike and wish to continue the movement.
If some disruptions were noted on December 11, it is especially this Thursday that the network will be affected. “Normal traffic” is expected on the TGV lines with only a few changes on the regional lines “with a national average of eight trains out of ten”; but in Ile-de-France, the situation is more complicated this December 12. The RER C and D will be particularly affected as well as the Transiliens H, N and R.
The mobilizations at the SNCF remain poorly attended at the end of the year. Already Thursday, November 21, the strike movement had little impact with only one in four railway workers being mobilized according to the CGT. “The French don’t want this strike at Christmas, we understand them, and above all there are no reasons,” also declared Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, on RTL. “I am quite doubtful about this social movement, especially since there are no other possible hypotheses” than this dismantling, announced the Minister for Transport François Durovray.
Where are the agricultural mobilizations?
Farmers resumed mobilization on December 9 and 10 with actions “around income, around the relationship with the price of our products, particularly in the context of the start of commercial relations, negotiation with distributors” warned the FNSEA . Furthermore, after the signing of the free trade agreement with Mercosur on December 6, farmers fear the arrival of unfair competition, even if the treaty has not yet been ratified. The fall of the government also increased their anger, fearing unfulfilled commitments. In response, they wanted to “toughen their action”. “We are calling to meet all the deputies to demand accountability,” said the secretary general of Young Farmers, Quentin Le Guillous, to AFP. On December 9, farmers targeted the offices of various deputies. Some dumped earth or slurry in front of these buildings. Others positioned themselves on roundabouts, creating filter barriers.