STRIKE OF MARCH 7. The inter-union calls for “putting France on hold” on Tuesday March 7 to protest against the pension reform. Many sectors have announced that they are joining the strike.
[Mis à jour le 3 mars 2023 à 11h58] The school holidays soon over, the French unions hope to score a big blow in the protest movement of the pension reform. The intersyndicale, made up of the eight main unions in the country (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU), calls in effect to “put France on hold” for the day of Tuesday 7 March, in order to protest against the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. A strike that comes as the bill is currently being considered in the Senate.
“The March 7 movement must be massive,” said François Hommeril, confederal president of the CFE-CGC, during an inter-union meeting on Thursday March 2 in La Ricamarie (Loire). “I’m counting on you to break the house and make it unforgettable,” added Marylise Léon, deputy secretary general of the CFDT, according to comments reported by France 24. In any case, the day of March 7 already promises many difficulties for the French. Several sectors have announced that they are joining the strike movement, including transport (rail and air), education, but also garbage collectors, platform deliverers, refinery employees and even industry.
The other issue of this next day of strike is the possibility of a renewable movement. The unions of the RATP, the SNCF, but also those of the refineries have indeed called for the renewable strike, but for the moment, the intersyndicale has not spoken with a single voice in favor of a movement in the time. For their part, the CGT and Solidaires have already called for the movement to continue through the renewable strike. “We will make the decision according to what will happen on March 7,” said Marylise Léon, deputy general secretary of the CFDT, on March 2 during the meeting of the inter-union. The first traffic forecasts in public transport for Île-de-France will be communicated this Sunday around 5 p.m. by the RATP and the SNCF. Each evening, the strikers will meet to decide whether to continue the movement locally or not.
The unions of certain professions have already called for a renewable strike on March 7. In a press release published on February 11, the intersyndicale de la RATP thus called to stop work from that day. “If the government still does not hear the determination of the workers, the youth and all those who support this unitary movement to express their anger in the face of this new injustice, it will have to assume the blocking of the economy in our country”, warned the RATP unions (CGT, FO, UNSA, CFE-CGC).
On the side of the SNCF, the four main unions have approved a renewable movement. The CGT, Sud-Rail, the CFDT-Cheminots as well as the UNSA are calling for a renewable strike from March 7. Before the official announcements, the Minister Delegate for Transport had warned that getting around on March 7 “will be hard”. Clément Beaune called on the French to “shift, postpone” their trips and also to resort to teleworking, at the microphone of South-Radio. The first traffic forecasts will be communicated this Sunday around 5 p.m. by the RATP and the SNCF. Each evening, the strikers of the two companies will meet to decide whether to continue the movement locally or not.
Snail operations could also limit travel on the roads. The employees of Heuliez bus in Rorthais (Deux-Sèvres) adopted, on the proposal of their FO and CFDT unions, a snail operation for March 7. As reported The New Republic, road traffic must be slowed down from 12:30 p.m. on both lanes in the Cholet-Bressuire direction, between Rorthais and the capital of Bocage.
As relayed by the specialized media Tour Mag, the unions of the ADP group called on their members to block Paris-CDG airport on Tuesday March 7, and to demonstrate in front of the 2E terminal door 17. A union delegate explained to the media that they were calling “all employees to stop work”. “For the blockage, no one will go on the slopes, but the impact will be very real. We are already sorry for the users”, he added. The CGT Air France also asked employees to strike within Air France.
The refuellers, whose role is to supply the planes with fuel, are for their part called to the renewable strike from Monday evening March 6, announced the CGT, which indicates to be the first union in this sector. Pierre Dalles, CGT union representative at the TotalEnergies Michelet site in Toulouse, said the impact on air transport “can be immediate”, according to comments reported by France Blue. In a leaflet, the CGT specifies that this call concerns the companies GPA, Fas, Skytanking, Sasca, Sap, TotalEnergies, Avitair and WFS, whose refuellers work at the airports of Roissy, Orly, Le Bourget, Beauvais, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse , Bordeaux, Tarbes, Perpignan, Nantes, Lille, Strasbourg, Rennes, Nîmes, Brest, Nice and Toussus.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) announced that it had asked airlines on Thursday March 2 to cancel 20% of flights at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport on March 7 and 8. 30% of flights will also be canceled at Paris-Orly, Beauvais, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice and Toulouse airports over these two days. The difficulties are expected from March 6 in the evening, until “Thursday, March 9 at 6 a.m.”, specifies the administration in a press release relayed by BFM TV.
The CGT federations of public services and transport have also announced a renewable movement with garbage men and “the entire sector” of waste from the same date, in a joint press release. The CGT is the majority in Paris among municipal and private garbage collectors, notes RTL.
The CGT Chemistry Federation (Fnic-CGT), which includes the refineries, calls for a renewable strike in the sector from March 6 in the evening. According to a union representative of the Fnic-CGT, contacted by Le Figaro, fuel shortages could occur from March 7. “They could be of the same magnitude as last October, when we organized a strike of several days to obtain a salary increase”, estimates this union representative in the columns of the daily. Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator for the TotalEnergies group, specified the sectors concerned by this call for a renewable strike: “refining, the petrochemical industry, the pharmaceutical industries, rubber, plastics”. Information reported by The Telegram.
Finally, the Education unions, in a press release published on February 14, announced a strike on March 7, with the aim of “totally close schools, colleges, high schools and services”. The SNUipp-SFU union, the majority in the first degree, also called on “staff to close schools on March 7, to mobilize on March 8 and to discuss collectively, in particular in general assemblies, the follow-up to be given on March 9, 10 March and after”, thus leaving the way open for a renewable strike movement. Statements reported by The Telegram.
The CGT Transports called on the delivery people of platforms like UberEats, JustEat or Deliveroo to participate in the strike against the pension reform of March 7. The union expressed itself in a press release: “Faced with remarks disconnected from all reality, the CGT Transports calls on the delivery people to organize themselves to decide on their demands in order to make them succeed, and to mobilize from March 7. next, by the stoppage of work and the demonstration”, recounts 20 minutes. It is difficult to predict whether the deliverers will respond, because they are not employees, but under the status of micro-entrepreneurs.
In a joint press release, the CGT unions of the main companies in the metallurgy sector (Thalès, Valéo, Stellantis, ArcelorMittal, Forvia, Airbus, Safran and Renault) call for “the metallurgy companies to be shut down” on March 7 next. This concerns the aeronautics, automobile and steel industries. “What we want is a renewable strike from 7 [mars]“, explained Michel Ducret, of the CGT Métallurgie federation. “The CGT of the major metalworking groups is uniting and calling on employees, temporary workers and retirees to continue and amplify the fight until victory is achieved, to meet in the workplace in order to decide on the strike of March 7, its renewal and to work to generalize the strikes”, can we read in the joint press release of the CGT unions. Information reported by Le Figaro.
In its press release of February 11, the inter-union also indicated that it “will seize March 8, the international day of struggle for women’s rights, to highlight the major social injustice of this reform against women”. Since then, a call for a “feminist strike” has been published on the site grevefeministe.fr. Among the signatories, we find, unsurprisingly, many feminist associations, but also trade unions such as the CGT or the trade union Solidaires. However, the modalities of this movement are still unclear at the moment.
In addition, 13 youth organizations are calling for a “day of action and mobilization of youth on March 9”, including the student unions Unef, Alternative and Fage, or even the militant youth organizations of left-wing political parties. Here again, it is difficult to estimate for the moment what the magnitude of this movement will be.
According to information from Parisian published on Thursday March 2, the intersyndicale would think about new mobilizations on March 11 and 14 next. But in a press release issued in response to the article in the Ile-de-France daily, the inter-union denied that “other dates, such as March 11 and 14, are on the agenda”. “The intersyndicale will meet on the evening of March 7 to discuss the follow-up”, specifies the press release. The Parisian nevertheless indicates that sources in the entourage of the unions have declared to its journalists that “these dates are well discussed”.