The ninth day of mobilization against the pension reform was followed on the island of Reunion where demonstrators and strikers organized roadblocks and snail operations to denounce a reform passed in force.
Motorists who ventured to hit the road this morning in Reunion had to be patient. At dawn, a snail operation set off from the east as far as La Possession. Several filter dams in the south caused several hours of traffic jams on the island’s main road.
Hundreds of demonstrators: staff of local authorities, construction workers, teachers or even dockers denounced a reform passed to the forceps, but also the contempt for the fight, expressed by Emmanuel Macron in his last televised address. All blockades were lifted around 3:30 p.m. local time.
End of the strike at the Albioma du Gol thermal power plant
It is a symbol of the protest against the pension reform, the picket of the employees of the Albioma thermal power plant in Gol, in Saint-Louis, also attracted protesters from all walks of life: teacher, specialist educator, saleswoman in ready-to-wear, came to swell the ranks of factory comrades. After a regular participation in weekly demonstrations, these employees had indeed returned to a continuous strike for the past six days. 24 hours a day, they took turns on the picket line to denounce both the substance of the reform and the form.
Luigi, thermal installation driver at Albioma for fifteen years, spent last night on the picket line, so it’s tired, but determined that he cooked this afternoon the carry camarons, a typical dish from Reunion , for all the demonstrators who converged on the site. “ We leave Reunion, we are forgotten. We are part of France. Have you seen the government we have? We’re gonna knock it down “says the employee.
The CGTR union delegate from Albioma in Gol, Timothée Payet joins him “ We are the voice of the people, we come to say that we are against this reform. It is unfair, are there not other financial levers: tax evasion, how much does it represent per year? ” he asks. The strike, which mobilized 95% of the staff according to the unions, will finally end tomorrow, Friday, in accordance with the vote of the employees gathered in a general assembly. But the unions remain vigilant and do not rule out joining the new demonstrations to come.
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Towards a resumption of activities at the Port
Spearhead of the social revolt, the dockers of the Port continued to demonstrate and operated a new day of strike. After three days of operation dead port » without ship handling or container deliveries, we are moving towards a resumption of activity from tomorrow unless a new strike notice is filed.
But the delay has accumulated, just this week, 5 000 containers could not be unloaded and it is approximately the same figure each week of strike so the return to normal will take ten to fifteen days, if there is no new mobilization explains Fabrice Brunetti, Captain at the Port Authority. “ The embankments are saturated and the other ports to which ships were redirected, such as Mauritius or Madagascar, are also starting to be full. ” indicates the captaincy again without worrying about shortages for the moment“ but if it were to last several months, we could imagine it “.
“ A successful Black Thursday » for the CFDT
Joël Dalleau, secretary general of CFDT Réunion, mobilized on the Cambaie roundabout today, welcomes the extent of the mobilization of the day. “ For us, it is a success, the population adheres. We realize that even when people are stuck in traffic for an hour, when they reach us, they agree with us. They too are opposed to the reform and we are delighted! » he explains.
If there is no longer a strike in progress in the companies where the CFDT is present, new movements are not excluded in the future. And Joël Dalleau assures us, “ the law is before the Constitutional Council, there is still the question of the shared initiative referendum, so there is still hope. Like what our actions are perhaps not insignificant! The whole thing is to hold on the length sums up the elected representative from Reunion.
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