This is the ultimate show of force by opponents of the pension reform before the verdict of the Constitutional Council, Friday April 14 at the end of the day. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in the processions of France this Thursday, April 13 at the call of the inter-union, always united.
The mobilization should remain consistent, although in decline compared to the last day of action, Thursday, April 6. At the Ministry of the Interior, territorial intelligence forecasts between 400 and 600,000 people in the streets, to be compared with the 570,000 listed on April 6 and 740,000 on March 28. Actions have already taken place this Thursday morning, notably in Paris, where garbage cans blocked the entrance to the Constitutional Council, rue de Montpensier.
In Paris, the demonstration will leave at 2 p.m. from the Place de l’Opéra to head towards Bastille.
Disruptions in transport
On the transport side, the SNCF forecasts slightly lower disruptions than last week, with 3 TER out of 5 and 4 TGV out of 5, and only 1 Intercity train out of 5. In the Paris region, metro and RER traffic is slightly disrupted , according to the RATP.
Traffic is almost normal on the RER A and B lines. Traffic is normal for buses and trams. In the metro, traffic is “normal or almost normal” with the exception of two lines: 8 and 13. On these two axes, there are two out of three trains compared to usual. This type of interprofessional action day hardly mobilizes at the RATP anymore. The last day of the strike, April 6, was also very poorly attended.
In the air sector, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) is asking airlines to give up 20% of their flights at the airports of Nantes, Bordeaux and Toulouse.
A 24-hour strike at refineries
In energy, resumption of work and lifting of blockages have taken place in refineries blocked by the conflict for a week, but new calls for strikes have been made.
The CGT has indeed called for a 24-hour strike this Thursday in French refineries. “We are calling for a 24-hour strike on Thursday at all sites with a work stoppage and a halt to shipments,” Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator at the oil group TotalEnergies, told AFP on Wednesday.
In the seven refineries in France, at the forefront of the protest movement (including four TotalEnergies), “the continuous strikes are suspended, all the refineries have been operating and shipping fuel since the end of last week, and since Tuesday for the refinery of Normandy,” said the union official.
The entrance to the Feyzin refinery, near Lyon, was blocked for two hours Thursday morning by a hundred union activists, before the intervention of the police who dispersed them without major incident, the prefecture told AFP. .
Waste in Paris: the CGT resumes the strike
The CGT of the waste and sanitation sector in Paris confirmed on Wednesday its determination to carry out an “act 2” of the mobilization of garbage collectors against the pension reform with a new call for a renewable strike which began on Thursday. “We are leaving, because for us this pension reform must fall, regardless of the decision of the Constitutional Council on Friday,” said Régis Vieceli, general secretary of the CGT-FTDNEEA union, during a press briefing.
The new boss of the CGT, Sophie Binet, is this Thursday morning in front of the incinerator of Ivry-sur-Seine, in the Paris suburbs, with trade unionists.
The CGT had announced on March 28 a suspension of the movement started on March 6, for lack of strikers in sufficient numbers, in order to remobilize its troops. “We worked for that, we had to discuss again with our comrades, with our colleagues in the workshops, in the garages, including with the comrades of the private sector, and we hope to have a high rate of strikers tomorrow (this Thursday). It has to be stronger than the last time,” added Régis Vieceli.