STRIKE RATP. After the mobilization of January 19 against the pension reform which caused major disruptions in metro and RER traffic, the RATP unions are not closing the door to the possibility of an indefinite strike. But when ?
Traffic returned to normal at the RATP on Friday January 20, 2023, following the strike action against the pension reform which paralyzed the majority of national and local public transport and which brought together 1.12 million people in the streets of France according to the Ministry of the Interior. The intersyndicale (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, UNSA, Solidaires, FSU), which met this Thursday evening, called for a new day of interprofessional mobilization against the pension reform on Tuesday January 31 next, and also intends to maintain pressure on the government by calling for new strikes “around January 23”, the day the law is presented to the Council of Ministers, according to comments reported by BFM TV. We do not know for the moment how this call will translate in terms of disruptions at the RATP at the beginning of next week.
The Parisian interviewed several RATP union representatives following this first act of strike. “It’s a great success for a first day”, rejoiced Jean-Christophe Delprat, metro driver and federal secretary at FO transport and logistics, in the columns of the Ile-de-France daily. It remains to be seen whether these new mobilizations will find an echo within the RATP.
RATP agents are considering an indefinite strike
Asked by The Parisian on an evolution of the movement towards an indefinite strike, an FO union source said: “All we can say is that we feel the anger. And if we go into an indefinite strike, it could be complicated for the government. It will be up to the employees to decide that”. “We are ready to leave until the reform is abandoned, even if financially, it will not be easy,” said a group of metro drivers on a daily basis.
The mobilization of Thursday, January 19 inevitably reminds us of the strike which had paralyzed the French rail for two months in 2019, during the first mobilization against the pension reform which had been aborted because of the Covid-19 health crisis. The social movement could be easily renewed thanks to an “unlimited duration” strike notice filed in December 2019, as mentioned TF1 News.