Is it a sudden stop or a simple recovery of breath? After the success of the strike days at the end of January and at the beginning of February, the mobilization this Thursday, February 15, at the initiative of the eight main unions against the pension reform, is experiencing a loss of steam. The movement is notably less followed within the National Education and the SNCF than on Saturday 11 or Tuesday 7 February.
Low mobilization at the SNCF
At noon, a union source told AFP that the rate of strikers at the SNCF stood at 14%, against 25% on February 7. In detail, there are 36% of strikers among drivers, 20% among controllers or 13.5% among switchers, according to these provisional figures at midday.
7.67% of striking teachers, according to the ministry
While zones A and B are on school holidays, teachers in zone C have not massively joined the picket lines. The Ministry of National Education counts 7.67% of striking teachers, almost twice less than a week earlier. On Tuesday, February 7, 14.17% of striking teachers had been counted.
More sparse processions
In sometimes gloomy weather, the first demonstrations were held in Rennes, Le Havre or Arras, this Thursday morning. The ranks were much smaller than the previous week, again. In Toulouse, the organizers claimed 65,000 demonstrators, against 100,000 on Saturday. In Tarbes, Pau or Montauban, they were, union and police sources combined, less than 10,000.
According to the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, 2,000 demonstrators moved to Arras, 3,000 to Boulogne-sur-Mer, 5,000 to Avignon and 20,000 to the city of Le Havre. After a Saturday which mobilized 963,000 demonstrators according to the authorities, the police are instead expecting 450 to 650,000 people in the street.
March 7 as a point of horizon
For union representatives, the decline in mobilization is not significant. Held back by the school holidays, the movement must above all be maintained as explained by Philippe Martinez, boss of the CGT: “Today, the figures do not matter. After this period of school holidays, there will be a need to raise the tone. “
The unions mobilized against the reform have their eyes riveted on the date of March 7. They promise an operation of “total blockage” of the country. The youth movements are also calling for a hardening of the movement at the beginning of March with the holding of three days of action on March 7, 8 and 9.