Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in France on Tuesday at the call of several unions to demand the repeal of the pension reform and an increase in wages in particular, at a time when Prime Minister Michel Barnier revealed his priorities during his general policy speech.
“This demonstration is to show the Prime Minister that there are social issues, issues on pensions, issues on public services,” Laurent Feisthauer, of the powerful CGT union, told AFP in the procession organized in Strasbourg, eastern France, one of 180 demonstrations across the country.
The CGT counted 170,000 demonstrators in France and the police 95,000. The last mobilization on wages in October 2023 brought together between 92,500 demonstrators (police) and 200,000 (CGT).
In Paris, where the CGT counted 20,000 people (11,000 according to the police), demonstrators were worried about upcoming budgetary decisions like Murielle, 54, a social worker in a suburban hospital. “We don’t even know what they’re going to find to cut. There is nothing left! “, she blurted.
Camille, 31, a high school teacher in the Paris region, is also worried about the budgetary decisions that Prime Minister Michel Barnier could take. “We know very well that the right is going to want to save money and that we are going to further reduce the resources of National Education,” laments the thirty-year-old.
National Education recorded 6.08% of strikers among teachers, a low participation rate. On the transport side, traffic was “normal” for the TGVs. Only some slight disruptions were noted for certain regional trains.
The unions’ ambition was to put a little more pressure on Mr. Barnier, who revealed his priorities to the deputies, after receiving the social partners last week.
Michel Barnier assured the Assembly on Tuesday that he wanted to reduce the deficit below 3% of GDP in 2029, by involving “large companies” and the “richest French people”, but also and above all by reducing spending. “The first remedy for debt is reducing spending,” he insisted.
PHOTO LOUISE DELMOTTE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The CGT counted 170,000 demonstrators in France and the police 95,000. The last mobilization on wages in October 2023 brought together between 92,500 demonstrators (police) and 200,000 (CGT).
Give back control to social partners
He announced that he would give back control to the social partners over unemployment insurance, thus burying in its current form the reform of this system planned by the previous government of Gabriel Attal. “They are best placed to provide solutions,” according to Mr. Barnier.
He asked that this negotiation begin “in the coming weeks”, while the current rules for compensating job seekers will end on October 31.
On the subject of the much criticized pension reform adopted last year, which gradually pushes back the retirement age to 64, “we should resume dialogue”, he also judged while recalling the “imperative of preserve the lasting balance of our system.”
Tuesday morning, some Parisian high schools were also blocked. Around a hundred high school students marched in Paris in the Latin Quarter, the student district, with banners bearing slogans like “Barnier, it’s not square”.