The CGT calls on Parisian garbage collectors to go on strike from April 13, the day before the verdict of the Constitutional Council on the pension reform. But the reluctance is on the side of the employees in the face of an already costly movement in March.
[Mise à jour le 12 avril à 08h56] Paris fears to live again under the garbage cans. The month of March 2023 was marked by a long strike in most districts of the capital. Result, the mayor of Paris estimated that 10,500 tons of garbage strewn the streets of the capital at the peak of the movement.
After a brief break from March 29, the CGT of Parisian garbage collectors filed a strike notice from Thursday April 13, 2023. The fear of seeing these hundreds of tons of garbage cans on the sidewalks is real but some strikers have chosen to not to continue their movement in April. Blame it on a pay slip reduced by the strike effort in a delicate economic context. This is the case for the employees of Pizzorno, one of the private operators active in the 10th, 15th and 18th arrondissements. After two weeks off, they resumed work thanks to a compromise with their management. Wages will thus be increased by 5% and a daily bonus is raised to 2.50 euros, against 1.75 euros previously In the rest of the country, certain cities are still affected by garbage collectors’ strikes such as in Saint-Etienne and La Rochelle.
Will the whole of Paris be affected by the garbage collectors’ strike?
The last strike movement in Paris lasted from March 6 to March 29, 2023. The gradual reduction in the number of strikers caused the action of the unions to cease. The strike of April 13 is for an indefinite period according to the CGT but it will therefore depend on the rate of strikers. The movement has not changed tack: demand for the withdrawal of the pension reform, but also a return to retirement at age 60 maximum. Even if, as a reminder, garbage collectors retire before the age of 62 due to the arduous nature of their job. Their eligibility age is currently set at 57 and will gradually be raised to 59 with the reform. The CGT also wants an increase in pensions for all the staff in their sector.
City hall officers do not manage the whole city. Only the following districts are affected by the strike notice: the 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 20th arrondissements. The rest of Paris is shared between 4 private providers. Stopping collections is not the only card of the strikers. Blocking dumpster depots is essential to paralyze all waste management in the capital. Moreover, many people present in March to occupy these strategic sites were not garbage collectors.
What is the situation in the rest of the country?
Several large cities have experienced an episode similar to the capital. Since the morning of April 11, the garbage collectors of La Rochelle have started a strike movement by providing only a minimum service with only 3 trucks for the whole of the agglomeration. This movement occurs in a context of renewal of the local waste collection market. Employees are afraid of losing their acquired benefits (snack bonus, soiling bonus, night bonus) because their company has not been pre-selected to keep its contract.
On the Saint-Etienne side, the garbage collectors are on strike for 12 days. Negotiations with the metropolis have so far not succeeded while 70% of the workforce are on strike. The police intervened on April 4 in Nantes to dislodge striking agents from one of the city’s two waste incinerators. The site had been occupied for three weeks. As a result, it will take several weeks to find streets in perfect condition.
A little further north of the country, Rennes experienced an identical situation. Laurent Hamon, vice-president in charge of waste at Rennes Métropole, believes that residents will have to wait “at least three weeks” to collect all the waste present on the sidewalks. Le Havre has also seen its waste management paralyzed. On March 31, the national police intervened to dislodge demonstrators from the technical center of the Urban Community. On site, only 14 out of 25 skips were able to turn again, the 11 others having been damaged. In the other cities affected at the beginning of March such as Metz, Nice or Montpellier, the situation quickly returned to normal in less than a week.
Why April 13 and not before?
The strike is announced 8 days after the next inter-union demonstration. The date is symbolic: the movement will begin the day before the decision of the Constitutional Council on the validity or otherwise of the pension reform. The goal is therefore to exert pressure at a strategic moment. The verdict of the Elders is the last card of the opponents of the reform to see it canceled.
The right to strike in the public service provides for announcing any strike 5 days before it begins. For garbage collectors in private branches, there is no obligation to announce their movement in advance. They are, however, required to inform their employer of their strike demands.
New requisitions in sight?
In the event of an extension of the movement, the question of the requisition of personnel is likely to return quickly. The town hall of Paris, the State and the prefecture of the capital are likely to clash on this file, especially since it is not excluded that the rubbish accumulates considerably; the threshold of 10,000 tons of waste cluttering the streets of Paris made an impression. Opponents of the municipal majority have constantly castigated the piles that are damaging the image of the capital.
In March, confronted with the strike, the services of the State and the municipality fought to know how to react. Faced with the refusal of mayor Anne Hidalgo to carry out requisitions of striking personnel, the prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nunez, took charge of it. His position grants him this right in the event of disturbance to “good order, health, tranquility and public safety”. The prefect acted on the orders of Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior.
This requisition was justified for several criteria. For the risk of fires already. During the many demonstrations in March, many fires were created thanks to the many fuels represented by the mountains of rubbish. The health factor was quickly taken into account. Far from the imaginary Paris of Ratatouille, the images of thousands of rats feeding on tons of waste in the streets of Paris shocked. These rodents can also carry diseases. The prefect was moved by this in a letter addressed to Anne Hidalgo, on March 15, pointing to the obstruction of waste to the “secure path of pedestrians, in particular that of people with reduced mobility”.
What is the risk of a striker refusing his requisition?
During a requisition, a striking agent does not return to work normally, but it forces him to solve the problem justifying this call. In the event of refusal, he commits an offense punishable by 6 months’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 euros, according to article L2215-1 of the General Code of Territorial Communities. This offense can be challenged before the administrative court. It is then up to a judge to observe whether the requisition is legal or not.