STRIKE 28 MARCH. On the eve of the March 28 strike, the inter-union continues to call on workers to mobilize against the pension reform. Several disruptions have already been announced.
The essential
- Tenth act of the movement against pension reform, a new strike will disrupt the daily life of the French this Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
- The inter-union hopes for a strong mobilization during the strike of March 28, as much in companies and public services as in the streets with numerous demonstrations. The objective is to do at least as well as last week.
- Disruptions have already been announced on SNCF and RATP traffic with fewer trains, RER and metros in circulation.
- Refinery employees, garbage collectors but also National Education professionals could follow the strike movement of March 28. The high school unions also called for mobilization by inviting young people to block high schools on Tuesday morning.
Live
16:19 – The strike of March 28, bis repetita of the movement of last Thursday?
This Tuesday’s strike should have “a physiognomy similar to that of March 23 in terms of blockades, strikes, but also clashes and degradations” according to a note from the intelligence services consulted by The Parisian. 650,000 to 900,000 people are expected in the streets while “the base of trade union employees estimated at between 500,000 and 600,000 people should once again respond, supported by representatives of civil society clearly opposed to this pension reform and the government policies” for the strike is further specified.
We must also expect possible outbursts and scenes of violence on the sidelines of the March 28 strike, like the striking images of last Thursday. The authorities fear “serious incidents in around fifty cities”, especially in territories where the ultra-left is very represented.
3:55 p.m. – More than 250 demonstrations this Tuesday
The strike of March 28 will be accompanied as with each mobilization since the beginning of the social movement against the reform of the pensions of demonstrations. According to the Unsa union, more than 250 demonstrations are planned throughout France this Tuesday. The inter-union hopes that the processions will bring together at least as many if not more people than on March 23. As a reminder, 3.5 million people hit the pavement last week according to the unions, 1.08 million according to the authorities.
15:31 – 30% strikers expected in primary schools
1 teacher out of 3 should take part in the strike on March 28, according to estimates by the main education union in primary schools, the SNUipp-FSU. At each strike, primary and nursery school teachers wanting to join the social movement are forced to declare themselves two days in advance, enough to allow the unions to assess the participation rate. Note that for the strike of March 23, the SNUipp-FSU before announced 40 to 50% of the strikers and that only 25% of the teachers were actually absent on D-Day, according to the Ministry of National Education.
15:16 – Garbage collectors’ strike: failed attempt in the private sector?
Garbage collectors employed by public services have been on strike for three weeks and scheduled at least until Monday, but these maintenance workers are expected to continue the movement on Tuesday during the March 28 strike. They also hoped to see the mobilization extend to private garbage collectors thanks to the notice filed by the CGT for the employees of the Derichebourg company. BFM TV however learned that the notice was lifted on Monday morning. Waste collection should therefore not be disrupted in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 10th and 18th arrondissements of Paris.
15:07 – From the premises to the strike of March 28
The tenth day of national inter-professional strike, launched at the call of the inter-union is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, but actions are being carried out this Monday to protest against the pension reform. This Monday, several blockages took place or are still taking place in front of schools and renewable strikes are underway in RATP and SNCF transport or in refineries and the waste treatment sector, marked by the garbage collectors’ strike.
Learn more
The transport sector is entering the fourth week of a renewable strike and it promises to be mobilized for the tenth act of the social movement against pension reform, this Tuesday, March 28. The two companies have already announced several disruptions to their traffic. Travel will be “severely disrupted” with the SNCF, which has warned of the circulation of 4 TGV Inoui and Ouigo out of 5, 2 TER out of 3 and 2 Intercités out of 3 on average.
In Ile-de-France, the Régie de la RATP also warns of the difficulties to be expected: “disturbed” traffic on the metros and “very disturbed” in the RERs. Only trams and buses should be safe from traffic problems. Not only to share the first traffic forecasts, the RATP invites “travellers, who have the possibility, to favor teleworking or to postpone their trips on the network that day”.
Air, maritime and road transport on strike?
If rail transport has been systematically mobilized during strike days since the start of the social movement against pension reform, other sectors tend to follow their example. In the air sector in particular, in which a strike by controllers is raging, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation could announce new cancellations of flights at several French airports this Tuesday, March 28, due to the appeal of the inter-union.
It has been three weeks since the garbage collectors started the strike against the pension reform and three weeks since the waste has been piling up in the capital. On the eve of the strike of March 28, the incineration plants in the Paris region reopened either by the voluntary lifting of the movement or by requisition, but the agents of the waste treatment sector did not decide to put an end to mobilization. They could have been more numerous to disengage thanks to the notice filed by the CGT in the private company Derichebourg, but the document was lifted on the morning of March 27. Private garbage collectors should therefore not join their public colleagues.
The strike movement continues in the oil sector and the strike of March 28 should be followed with blockades in refineries and fuel depots in France. These shutdowns of all or part of the production generate situations of lack of fuel. “15% of service stations are out of one or more products,” indicated the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, during an interview on RMC last Friday. But in places, especially in the Bouches-du-Rhône or Morbihan, more than 30% of the stations were out of one or more fuels this weekend. Indeed, “three regions are more in difficulty: Brittany, Pays de la Loire and PACA. The periphery of Occitania close to the sea, a little too”, specified the minister. If the State has made requisitions in certain places, in particular at the Fos-sur-Mer oil depot (Bouches-du-Rhône) and at the Gonfreville-l’Orcher refinery (Seine-Maritime), the walkouts continue in other places, and could still be effective on Tuesday.
In the education sector, the SNUipp-FSU expects to see 30% of teachers in primary schools to strike on March 27. On Twitter, the CGT-Educ’action union nevertheless called for an “interprofessional mobilization on Tuesday March 28” in order to “strike the iron while it is hot”. In a press release also published on Twitter this Friday, March 24, the high school inter-union, made up of the unions FIDL, the Voix lycéenne and the Mouvement national lycéen, also called for “renewable blockades from Monday March 27, and this, until the end of the week “. The high school students’ unions also claim that “1,500 establishments” have been blocked since the start of the protest movement against the pension reform. It goes without saying that the high school students’ unions will want to continue the blockade movement during the strike of March 28th.