This Thursday, June 6, took place the 14th day of mobilization against the pension reform at the call of the inter-union, two days after the publication of the first decrees of application of the text of the law promulgated in April. What looks more like a last stand took place two days before an attempt to repeal the law in the Assembly, which for the moment seems to be on the wrong track.
After five months of mobilization against the reform, the unions foresee the end of the “match” but call to remain “united” to weigh on other subjects, such as wages or working conditions. “The match is ending whether we like it or not, with this unknown of what will happen Thursday at the Assembly”, declared in the Parisian procession the number one of the CFDT, Laurent Berger. If the mobilization against the pension reform seems to be largely weakening, the inter-union hopes to take advantage of the momentum of social protest. “We want real negotiations,” warned CGT number one Sophie Binet alongside him. Stressing that “retirements will always remain a fight”, she highlighted the objective of “winning concrete progress”, judging “probable that there will be other demonstrations in view of the anger in the country”.
A sharp decline in mobilization
In the provinces, the figures for participation in the demonstrations are the lowest recorded for five months, with between 4,000 people (prefecture) and 50,000 (CGT) in Marseille, between 8,000 and 50,000 in Toulouse, between 5,500 and 10,000 in Rennes, 8,600 and 20,000 in Nantes or even 2,900 to 6,000 in Rouen. In Paris, where the procession set off around 2:25 p.m. from the Invalides to Place d’Italie, the authorities counted 31,000 people, against 300,000 demonstrators, according to the CGT. In the streets of the capital 4,000 police officers were mobilized to supervise the crowd and the thousand radical demonstrators expected. About 11,000 police were deployed throughout France, or between 400,000 and 600,000 demonstrators were expected in total.
Tensions between demonstrators and the police have been observed in Toulouse, Rennes or Nantes. In Lyon, the demonstration was once again marked by damage and clashes, after a previous edition marked by violence on May 1. The long procession of more than 25,000 participants according to the intersyndicale – 8,000 according to the police – was the scene of several incidents, with broken bus shelters, damaged and tagged windows, burned garbage cans and several clashes between a group of around 400 thugs and the police, who repeatedly used tear gas.
Unlike previous days, few disturbances were recorded in schools (5.67% of striking teachers on average, according to the ministry) as well as in transport, where traffic was “very slightly disturbed” at the SNCF and “normal” at the RATP. A third of flights were still canceled from Paris Orly.
Punchy actions
Several strong actions nevertheless marked the morning. The headquarters of the Olympic Games-2024 Organizing Committee was briefly invaded by around sixty CGT activists on Tuesday at midday, in order to deploy banners against the pension reform, but “without violence or degradation” according to the committee. organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojo). Calls to disrupt the Olympics, including the hashtag “#pasderetraitpasdejo”, had arisen on social networks during the protest against the pension reform, raising the legal age to 64.
Electricians also carried out a power outage which affected a large area of Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine) for two hours, which notably houses media headquarters and digital companies. The headquarters of Orange, Microsoft France and the France Médias Monde group, which notably includes radio RFI and the news channel France 24, confirmed to AFP that they were affected by this cut made around 10 a.m. “Part of the headquarters of France Médias Monde is affected by the cut and is currently powered by generators pending a return to normal,” said the group, specifying that there had been no impact on program delivery. Other corporate headquarters were affected, such as that of Bouygues Immobilier or Microsoft, as well as the Post Office and Sanef buildings, which were evacuated.
Call to the RIP and vote at the Assembly
The leader of Unsa, Laurent Escure, called on Tuesday for a referendum of shared initiative (RIP) on the pension reform on April 14, 2024, one year after its promulgation, which could avoid its rejection by the Council. constitutional, like the first two RIPs. The law on the RIP effectively stipulates that this type of referendum “cannot have as its object the repeal of a legislative provision promulgated for less than one year”. This point had been one of the reasons given by the Constitutional Council to reject the two requests for RIP made in the spring. “In between, we will continue to fight in all its forms,” continued the secretary general, who should probably be reappointed to head Unsa on Thursday. If by chance a RIP were validated, it should still collect 4.8 million citizen support in nine months.
Thursday, June 8 in the Assembly, the President of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet should draw article 40 of the Constitution – which prohibits parliamentarians from tabling amendments having a financial impact – to obstruct the repeal text tabled by the Liot parliamentary group. MPs may once again not have the right to vote.
The debate must be held “within the democratic framework and respect for the Constitution”, for his part affirmed Monday the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of a trip to Mont-Saint-Michel. Tuesday, during the 79th anniversary of the Allied landings, he pleaded that “in such times, one should not make political comments”, adding that “announcements will come in due time”. The government plans to hold a multilateral meeting in mid-June, either at Matignon or at the Elysée, with unions and employers.