The fifth day of mobilization against the pension reform project scheduled for Thursday, February 16 in France promises to be less followed than previously, the unions preferring to focus on an upcoming deadline.
After a Saturday day which mobilized 963,000 demonstrators according to the authorities, more than 2.5 million according to the unions, the crowd should be lower this Thursday. At the national level, a police source quoted by Agence France-Presse said to expect between 450 and 650,000 people, including 40 to 70,000 people in Paris. In parallel with this parade in the capital, the numbers one of the inter-union will demonstrate in Albi (south-west), symbol of a France of small towns very mobilized against the reform.
Disruptions promise to be limited in transport, with four out of five high-speed trains (TGV) in circulation and normal traffic in the Paris metro. Only one out of two regional trains will run in the regions and in Paris. Service will be partially disrupted on some commuter trains. Similarly, 30% of flights at Paris-Orly will be canceled and regional airports affected.
I would be for it to continue, but I have the impression that we are not listened to by the government.
Strike or not? Shared Parisians
As of Wednesday afternoon, many hydroelectric power stations went on strike, in particular the most powerful in France, at Grand’Maison (south-east), making the equivalent of some 3,000 MW unavailable for the network.
Closure of university sites
Several university sites were also closed on Wednesday due to blockages by students or possible occupations as part of the mobilization against the pension reform project. In Rennes, the presidency of the University of Rennes 2 announced in a press release that it had decided the administrative closure of the establishment on Wednesday and Thursday due to information on a possible occupation within the framework of the mobilization against the project of reform of the retreats. The traditional spearhead of student protest, Rennes 2 had already been closed for three days last week, following a student blockage.
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At the University of Nantes, several buildings were closed by the presidency ” for the day Wednesday ”, including the faculty of languages as well as that of law and political science. This measure was taken given the uncertainties about the evolution of the situation “, said the institution on Instagram. In Paris, the Tolbiac site of the University of Paris 1 was closed on Wednesday afternoon following a blockage by students that began in the morning, followed by a general meeting at midday bringing together several hundred students. They voted for the immediate occupation of the premises. A general meeting was called at 8 p.m. to decide on the follow-up to the situation before a new blockage on Thursday, students told AFP.
A million signatures against the reform
The inter-union front against this project wants to put all its forces into the day of March 7, during which it threatens to put the country ” off if the government does not give up raising the retirement age to 64, compared to 62 today. The intersyndicale de l’éducation, which brings together the seven main teacher unions, has called for ” completely close schools, colleges, high schools and services “that day if the government and the Parliament” remain deaf to mobilization. The garbage collectors are also called by their CGT federation to go on strike renewable from March 7.
Launched in January, a petition by the eight unions united against a reform deemed ” unfair and brutal reached the symbolic milestone of one million signatures on Wednesday, according to the change.org platform.
In the National Assembly, where heated debates are engaged on this project, the government which only has a relative majority suffered a first major setback on Tuesday evening. The deputies rejected one of the articles of the text because of the hostile vote of a part of the elected Republicans, the traditional right on which the executive counts to pass the reform. Government spokesman Olivier Véran however assured on Wednesday that “ on this text like the others, we believe in the possibility of this majority “.
The leader of the far right Marine Le Pen announced on Wednesday evening the filing of a motion of censure ” so that the members opposed “to the pension reform” can express their rejection of this text “, evoking a” parliamentary referendum “. The debates in the Assembly must end Friday at midnight. But on Wednesday, around 4 p.m., nearly 14,000 amendments remained to be examined.
Decisive strike funds
While the mobilization is set to last, some unions have activated their strike funds to financially support the strikers. But also to provide them with moral support and broaden the mobilization, in particular by allowing precarious or part-time staff to participate in one or two days of strike. ” Almost no strike fund manages to fully replace lost wages – sometimes they are even quite symbolic payments – but the idea that a fundraiser can bring together millions of euros thanks to tens of thousands of donors can have a significant political impact which contributes to the determination of the strikers “, notes the ex-railway worker Gabriel Rosenman, doctoral student in political science on the history of strike funds.