“The Macron is good! Ah, he is good!”. The interjection is positive, but the tone is bitter. Sitting around a wood fire, the strikers of the waste incinerator of Ivry-sur-Seine, in Île-de-France, watch their “boss”, Régis Vieceli, emerge with great strides from one red tents erected in the parking lot. Glasses screwed on his nose despite the twilight, the man advances, a smile on his lips: “We knew it. We knew it was not going to pass. We continue the mobilization”. By “that”, the CGT general secretary of the waste and sanitation sector of the City of Paris designates the “transpartisan” censure motion tabled by the LIOT group after the activation of 49.3 on the pension reform. Submitted to the vote on Monday March 20, the text failed by 9 votes. “It was close,” continues Régis Vieceli. The trade unionist seeks the eyes of the garbage collectors still present at the start of the evening. “It’s the proof that we are trying to convince. We are going to make them move!”, He exclaims. It does not matter if, with this vote, then the rejection of a second motion of censure – this time tabled by the National Rally -, the reform is adopted.
For the garbage collectors of the City of Paris gathered in this car park, the mobilization is not over. “You guys will get there!” exclaims a man in the group. White hair and metal-rimmed glasses, retired Daniel Rivière walks around the small group. For several days, this “has-been actor”, as he claims himself, has been providing support – but also food – to the strikers at the Ivry incinerator. Tonight, it will be pork loin marinated in herbs, and potatoes. “We never get bored here. Very different people come to see us, assures Daniel, dumpster driver. A few minutes ago, an 8-year-old accordionist even came to play!”
A site blocked “at least until Thursday”
Since the beginning of the blockage of the incinerator, on March 6, the garbage collectors have the impression of having “made their work visible”. “During Covid, we were told we were front lines, or essential workers, or whatever. But no one knew what we were doing! Now people see it. Or rather, notice what we don’t do,” says Xavier*, a garbage collector. The employees questioned take up the same arguments: the hardship of their work, their refusal to spend their old age behind a dumpster and, also, their anger at what they consider to be the inflexibility of the executive and the majority. “We have the impression that they cannot understand what we are going through, says “Manu”, 52 years old. Perhaps this is not the case: I am not sure to be able to put myself in their shoes. Our life is so far removed from theirs!”
Despite the adoption of the reform, trade unionists nodded, still convinced of the effectiveness of their mobilization. Long hours await them: two hours earlier, in front of a small group of people, Régis Vieceli announced the renewal of the blocking of the site “at least until Thursday”, the next day of national mobilization at the call of the inter-union .
Around 4 p.m., a few meters from the “on strike” banners stretched on the entrance gates, around thirty people had gathered in front of the incinerator. Teachers, caregivers, sewer workers, and even students had come to lend a hand to the garbage collectors. They intended to block the passage of the dumpsters in order to prevent them from getting out. The rally was cut short: the trucks did not move, and the drivers did not show up. Sometimes a car passes and honks. The demonstrators shout, rejoicing. At the center of the group, Régis Vieceli motivates the troops, harangues them, explains. “Until this morning, three of Syctom’s four incinerators (the metropolitan household waste agency, editor’s note) were blocked. Since this morning, that of Romainville is also blocked”. Loud applause greets these words. “We are gradually renewing the blockage. It’s not all up to us, warns the trade unionist. If we can’t continue, other cities will take over. It’s not just Paris”. A movement of assent runs through the group. Here, everyone is convinced that the movement must last as long as it takes.
“Weighing on the economy”
While the debates on the motions of censure have only just begun to be debated in the Assembly, the demonstrators are already thinking about the future. “We will block as long as it takes for it to affect the economy”, explains Carmen – “like opera”, she slips. At 60, this caregiver will be little affected by the reform. “Only six more months, she says. But I’m demonstrating for my children”. Her 23-year-old daughter, in particular, is present at her side. “We have seen that simple peaceful gatherings do not work, so we have to block!”, abounds Louise, a sociology student, immediately supplemented by her mother: “Our goal is for the Medef to call Macron, and tell him to stop. All these activities blocked, it will end up weighing on the economy”.
Carmen takes up here the discourse of the trade unionists: a few moments earlier, Régis Vieceli claimed to be less interested in the debates of Parliament than in the reactions of the employers’ union. “The important thing is to make the evening visitors react. Those who go to see Macron at the Elysee Palace and who can talk to him. Otherwise, we won’t achieve anything!”, Says Lionel Amiot, Parisian CGT union representative . A few meters further, Emilia (39) and Florence (41), CGT union delegates, approve in turn. The two teachers – the first in college, the second in high school – have come to express their support for the garbage collectors, and are dreaming of more “offensive” mobilizations. “Because for the moment, the inter-union is a little… soft”, hesitates Emilia. Florence is shaken with a short laugh: “When we heard that the next day of national mobilization would take place a week after 49.3, we were a little on our buttocks”. According to these teachers who, with the reform, will not be able to leave “before the age of 67”, it is essential to block “strategic places” to be heard. “Otherwise, how to react to this denial of democracy?”, Florence is indignant.
“Like in 2005”
The refrain often returns to the demonstrators present in front of the incinerator of Ivry. It does not matter that 49.3 is completely provided for by the Constitution. It doesn’t matter that Emmanuel Macron and his majority were elected a little over a year ago. “He was not elected for himself or his program, but to counter the voices of the National Rally. And for the second time more!” Raji fumes. At 24, this territorial agent, a Solidaires union member, came with his colleague, Safia. “He said that our vote obliged him. How does he show it? there is no debate, and something that has already been decided is imposed on us”.
Exasperated by 49.3, the concern of territorial agents is not limited to pension reform. “It goes well beyond that, believes Safia. We have the feeling that this reform is hitting the less well-off, when it is already difficult”. Naïma, a versatile early childhood agent, approves. “I don’t see myself working until I’m 64, she breathes. I’m already having trouble today. How will it be when my body says stop?”. Like many employees gathered in front of the incinerator, his demands are no longer limited to the withdrawal of the pension reform. “Last night I went to the supermarket: I paid ten euros for a meal for three people. Something simple: pasta, sauce, dessert. I can barely survive today, says- t-she. And I would have to continue like this for ten years? Fifteen years? That’s out of the question. In order to be heard, Naïma will beat the pavement during the next day of mobilization. For her, as for the other “blockers” of the Ivry incinerator, the situation has only one way out: that of the street.