The year 2023 could start under the sign of protest with strikes announced in many sectors, from transport to the public service, which maintain their demands for a rise in wages and the abandonment of the pension reform.
What if the many social movements at the end of the year resumed with a vengeance in January 2023? In any case, this is what the unions in different sectors are promising, starting with the transport sector. While the SNCF controllers’ strike disrupts traffic during the Christmas holidays and the RATP has sometimes paralyzed metro traffic between November and December, the company in charge of Parisian transport is preparing to put the cover back “around the 10 January 2023” according to a union source. But the wave of protest could extend well beyond transport, as suggested by the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez at the microphone of France info in mid-December: “There are already strike notices which have been filed for the month of January in the professions where it is compulsory”.
The civil service, the energy sector or even that of trade and mass distribution could make their voices and their demands heard in January. Moreover, these demands often overlap between the unions and the circles on strike. On the program: salary increase, rejection of the pension reform, recruitment and working conditions … The same as those brought in recent months and which have still not found an answer.
When will the strikes take place in January 2023?
While the strikes are preparing for the return to school in January, one date stands out: that of January 10, 2023. Either the day when Emmanuel Macron must present the pension reform. Coincidence? Certainly not. The reform project is a source of conflict as soon as it is put on the table. The transport sector, which is very involved in the fight against the pension reform, therefore plans to mobilize over this period. But it is indeed the whole month of January which could be punctuated by strike movements. In the civil service and the energy sector strike notices run over the period from from January 1 to 31 while on the side of National Education a call for a strike was launched for the day of the January 17.
Which sectors will be on strike in January?
Already several sectors through the voice of different unions have said they are ready to demonstrate and go on strike to make their demands heard and defend their interests.
- The transport : the RATP has called for a new strike in January 2023 to “harden the movement” that has been underway for several weeks. “Our trade unions note that our demands (statutory upgrading, upgrading of the workforce, etc.) have not been heard”, wrote the CGT, FO, Unsa and La Base in an inter-union press release deeming the proposals unsatisfactory. made by management during mandatory annual negotiations. The SNCF unions, which for the time being have not advanced, have let the notices run until January to perhaps join the strike movement. On the air transport side, a strike notice runs until January 2.
- The Public service : it is indeed the civil servants of the three sides (State, territorial and hospital civil servants) who are called upon to mobilize during the month of January. And Céline Verzeletti, the secretary general of the CGT-Public Service wants to believe in “massive mobilizations”. In the health sector, caregivers and nurses had already mobilized during previous strike days in October and November and could start again. National Education is also part of the public sector and the teachers’ unions called for a strike on January 17 to defend the rise in wages and the pro high schools targeted by a decried reform.
- L’energy : several strikes disrupted companies in this sector with demonstrations at nuclear power stations, refineries and on various EDF and GRDF sites. The protest impulses persist and the national secretary of the CFE-Unsa energies union for EDF, Amélie Henri informed AFP that a “strike notice from December 19 until January 31” has been filed. Similarly, Fabrice Coudour, the federal secretary of the FNME-CGT, assured that in the face of the pension reform, the CGT of energy will mobilize.
- the trade : the social movements have found an echo in small businesses as in large retailers since November and in January new strikes could affect the brands Conforama, Castorama, Cultura, Galeries Lafayette but also Go Sport (in receivership), Pimkie and C&A according to Audrey Ricci, assistant secretary of the federal trade section of the FEC-FO. On the retail side, Aldi employees could join the movement.