The eighth day of action against the pension reform bill promises to be less disrupted than the previous ones in transport.
A new highlight ? France is approaching, Wednesday, March 15, an eighth day of mobilization against the pension reform bill. If the mobilization was down on Saturday, with a million demonstrators in France according to the CGT and 368,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior, the unions do not want to let go. The federal secretary of the SUD-Rail union, Julien Troccaz mentioned a “decisive week”.
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When the opponents of the reform will gather to demonstrate, another game will be played in the Assembly with the meeting decisive between deputies and senators. Seven elected representatives from each hemicycle, and as many alternates, will negotiate from 9 a.m. in a joint committee (CMP), behind closed doors. If the parliamentarians reach an agreement, the text will be submitted to the vote of the Senate on Thursday, then to that of the Assembly, for its final adoption.
Franceinfo takes stock of the expected difficulties.
The “black day” should be avoided in transport
The SNCF plans traffic “disturbed”. Wednesday’s circulations will be “generally similar” to those of Monday and Tuesday: 2 TER out of 5 on national average, 3 TGV Inoui and Ouigo out of 5, 1 daytime Intercités out of 3 and no night Intercités traffic.
For the network TransilienSNCF estimates that traffic will remain “disturbed”. On the RER E, it provides 3 trains out of 4; on the RER D, it announces 2 trains out of 5 on average. For the RER C, lines H, J and L, the SNCF expects an average of 2 trains out of 3. On the other hand, the service will be “normal to almost normal” for lines K, U, trams T4, T11 and T13.
The RATP foresees traffic “almost normal” for the metro, “normal” for buses, trams and the Orlyval. She did, however, announce a “very disrupted traffic” for the RER sections it manages. For RER A, it announces an average of 1 train out of 2 with an interconnection maintained at Nanterre Préfecture and for RER B, it also plans an average of 1 train out of 2, with an interconnection maintained at Gare du Nord. “In Ile-de-France, there will be few disturbances”, however assured the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, Tuesday on France 2.
In air transport, flight cancellations for Wednesday should also be fewer than last week. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) announced on Monday that it had asked airlines to cancel 20% of their flights at Paris-Orly on Wednesday. “Despite these preventative measures, disruptions and delays are nonetheless to be expected,” underlined the DGAC in a press release. She invites “passengers who can postpone their trip and check with their airline to find out the status of their flight”. In summary, this day of Wednesday “ will be less penalizing, promised Clément Beaune, we will not be in the levels of disruption of public transport that we have experienced during previous mobilizations”.
Refineries still blocked
Most French refineries remained blocked on Tuesday, while the agents have been on a renewable strike since March 6. “In TotalEnergies refineries, for the moment it has not changed, shipments are still blocked everywhere” even if production continues, Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator for the group, told AFP. “Five refineries [étaient] affected by the strike movements” Monday, said the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, on RMC.
In the refineries of Feyzin (Rhône) and Normandy, the largest in France, the blocking of fuel shipments for almost a week has led to a saturation of the product tanks, which risks requiring a stoppage of production. In these two TotalEnergies refineries, however, employees continue to operate with “products which are not immediately marketable”, because they “do not want to shut down the refinery for the moment”detailed Eric Sellini.
In the other oil groups, the strike also continues. If the Esso-ExxonMobil refinery in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime) restarted shipments on Thursday, that of Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) “is still on strike”assured the union representative, as did that of the Petroineos de Lavera refinery, in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Strike extended until next week in LNG terminals
The four LNG terminals which import liquefied natural gas (LNG) into France renewed their strike action on Tuesday until the beginning of next week. The shutdown of the three Elengy terminals (Engie subsidiary) located in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) for two of them, and in Saint-Nazaire (Montoir-de-Bretagne, Loire-Atlantique) blocks the gas supply to the GRTgaz distribution network, the unloading of LNG carriers and the filling of LNG tanks until next Tuesday, according to Mathieu Michel, elected CGT of Elengy.
Parisian garbage collectors continue their strike “at least until March 20”
The garbage collectors and cleaning agents of the City of Paris voted on Tuesday to continue their strike “at least until March 20” in the capital, where waste piles up on the sidewalks. Some 7,000 tons of uncollected garbage were counted on the ninth day of the strike, according to the first deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, who deplores a “catastrophic situation created by the government”. “If the state wants to requisition, that’s its problem”he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Ports shut down since Monday
The CGT called Monday for three days of work stoppage in the ports of France, with a day “dead ports“highlighted on Thursday. “We are not here to block the economy, we are here to obtain the withdrawal of the project”launched Serge Coutouris, Deputy Secretary General of the National CGT Federation of Ports and Docks. “Thursday, all day long, nothing comes in and nothing comes out” ports, he promised.
The CGT is the majority in all the ports of France, except that of Dunkirk (North). A possible passage of the bill with the use of section 49.3 would change “necessarily the conditions of the conflict”, warned Olivier Mateu, secretary general of the CGT in the Bouches-du-Rhône. “If the government uses 49.3, there will be no rule for anyone.”
Shares in the energy and steel sectors
In the electricity and gas sectors, protest actions continue. The CGT Energie des Alpes-Maritimes thus claimed, with France Bleu Azur, to have cut off the electricity of the prefecture of the department on Tuesday. And the outcome of the vote on the bill may not change much. “The determination remains intact. (…) Among those who have been on renewable strike for 15 days now, there is a desire not to stop [en cas de] 49.3 or an unfavorable vote”said Sébastien Menesplier, the general secretary of the CGT Mines-Énergies, on BFMTV on Monday. On the steel industry side, filter dams were set up on Tuesday at the entrance to the ArcelorMittal site in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), reports France Bleu Provence. On site, the mobilized employees filter the three entrances to the site and distribute leaflets for the demonstration on Wednesday.
Teachers still mobilized
The FSU-SNUipp union, the leading union in nursery and elementary schools, and the SNES-FSU, the majority union in colleges and high schools, relayed the call for a strike on Wednesday.
“To brush aside and despise the expression of millions of people, of all trade union organizations, is to trample on democracy”say the unions in a joint press release. “We continue until the withdrawal of the reform”they add.