FEBRUARY STRIKES. The next strike days are announced for February 7 and 11. If many sectors are mobilizing for the first, the date of the 11th is discussed. Some unions might just call for protest.
[Mise à jour le 3 février à 14h43] The unions are giving back the cover. After two days of successful mobilizations, a new interprofessional strike is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7, 2023. At the call of the inter-union, several sectors have organized themselves to challenge the pension reform for a third time. Transport was the first to respond and refineries had already planned a three-day mobilization, but since then the strike movement has won schools, energy companies, but also ski resorts with seasonal workers on strike for the first week of vacation.
The intersyndicale also called for a strike on February 11, the first movement organized over a weekend to allow workers to demonstrate without losing a day’s wages. The date is also strategic because during the first crossover of the holidays. Blockades of transport and refineries could then affect many French people but without guarantee for the unions to be heard more by the government. Reasons that push the unions to be cautious. At the SNCF, for example, the trade unions have not yet confirmed the strike movement.
If the dates are still subject to debate, the mobilizations against the pension reform must continue and amplify in February, living the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger. A position common to all trade unionists and approved by a majority of French people Nearly 7 out of 10 people support strikes (69%) and mobilizations (72%) according to an Ipsos poll for France info published on February 2. A look at the calendar of strikes in February.
The mobilization does not waver against the pension reform. Thus, after the mobilizations of January 19 and 31, new strike calls were launched for the tuesday 7 february and the Saturday February 11. If the first date corresponds to the day after the start of the examination of the text by the deputies, the organization of a demonstration at the weekend is for once unusual. With a first date set on a weekend, the intersyndicale hopes to mobilize people who cannot financially afford to miss a day of work during the week.
Call to strike for February 6, 7 and 8
The unions have set their sights on the month of February to prolong the fight against pension reform. Objective ? Maintain pressure on the government with repeated movements. In February, it is again the refineries which will go on strike for a period of three days from February 6th. This announced mobilization is the last stage of the detailed plan of the CGT-Petrole to oppose the strikes. Here again, a drop in production and the cessation of deliveries are planned during the mobilization.
February 7 is also the date chosen by the inter-union at the end of the second day of national strike to continue the fight against the pension reform. A date that fits with the calls launched on January 24 by two transport unions (CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail) which were planning a 48-hour strike from February 7 to 8. The SNCF and the RATP have already responded to the next mobilization and the idea of a renewable strike has not left the minds within the CGT-Cheminots.
By calling for a strike on Saturday February 11, 2023, the unions are therefore betting on a mobilization on a school holiday day, which is moreover a “crossover” between zone A (2nd holiday weekend) and zone B ( 1st holiday weekend). If the objective seems above all to allow as many people as possible to take to the streets without losing a day’s work, this could have consequences on the holiday routes of the French. At this stage, no strike movement is recorded for February 11, especially on the side of the SNCF. Some unions see the February 11 movement more as a day of mobilization than a strike. “The objective of an appeal on February 11 is not so much the percentage of strikers as the fact of having in the street all the employees who do not have the financial capacity to go on strike and respond calls during the week”, explained the federal secretary of SUD-Rail, Erik Meyer, to France Blue. If the question of the strike still arises, that of the demonstrations on the other hand seems recorded according to the CGT-Cheminots: “We will call a priori in a unitary way to demonstrate on February 11”.
However, a call has already been made for the previous days. Could the movement thus last nearly a week? The CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail have already called for the renewal of the movement “from mid-February”, which could correspond to the mobilization desired on February 11.
As in January, RATP employees will mobilize against the pension reform. A call for a strike for February 7 and 11 has been launched by the company’s unions “to say no to this reform”, wrote, jointly, the CGT, FO, the UNSA and the CFE-CGC in a communicated. If the disturbances were less important on the network on January 31 compared to January 19, “the widening of the movement is indisputable” affirmed the inter-union. Travel difficulties on the metro, RER, trams and buses are therefore to be expected for these two days. The forecasts will be communicated, each time, 24 hours before.
Doctors on strike on February 14
The health sector was very eventful by the strikes at the beginning of the year and an unlimited strike notice filed by FO runs for all French hospitals since January 10. Another filed by the CGT runs from February 3 to 9. Caregivers have also taken part in previous mobilizations with one-hour strikes or the wearing of the “on strike” armband, traditional actions to express support for the strike without causing collateral damage to patients. But in February, other health professionals make an appointment for a new strike on February 14: the liberal doctors. The intersyndicale requests “an additional financial envelope […] necessary to achieve the objectives set by the Minister of Health”, can we read in a letter from the unions to the government. It calls for the closure of the cabinets while the discussions with the Health Insurance must end at the end of February.
Energy stocks in February?
On the side of the energy sector, no date has been set for a strike, but the unions have adopted a new method since the end of January. The CGT des mines et de l’énergie (FNME-CGT) has decided to carry out so-called “Robin Hood” operations on a regular basis to weigh on the economy of companies in the sector. The union, for example, was pleased to have provided free electricity to certain establishments such as hospitals, schools or even low-cost housing. These free operations were preferred to the first action which consisted of organizing ultra-targeted power cuts on politicians and elected officials in favor of pension reform.
What are the strikes by sector in February?
If several strikes are announced, not all sectors take part at the same times. Here is a quick recap of the expected strikes:
- Refinery Strikes: February 6-8, 2023
- Strike at the SNCF: from February 7 to 8, 2023
- Strikes organized by the inter-union, multi-sector: February 7 and 11, 2023
- Health strike: February 14 and an indefinite strike since January 10.