in Boulogne-sur-Mer, “we have the impression that Paris despises us”

The gentleman “tracts” of the CGT is overwhelmed on all sides. His stock is empty visibly, “maybe even a little too fast”, he observes, suddenly forced to play guard in the back of the white van. In Boulogne-sur-Mer, the union has already ordered several times from the printer since the start of the mobilization against the pension reform. “3,000 leaflets is three times more than usual, and wouldn’t that be enough?” Not far: Tuesday, February 7, before noon, they were still nearly 5,000 (2,600, according to the police) in the streets of the sub-prefecture of Pas-de-Calais.

>> Pension reform: follow the strike of February 7 in our live

This is a little less than during the first two demonstrations (6,500, then 8,000). “It’s still huge for a weekday, in a city like ours, of 42,000 inhabitants”reframes Elodie Lemaire, the head of the local section. “Usually, a demonstration here is 500, 1,000, come on 2,000 people. The other day, we downright had to change the route along the way so there were people.“

A policeman sneaks up on a low wall of the Gambetta quay, opposite the port, to observe the crowd. “I swear to you guys, I don’t see the end“he mutters to his colleagues in uniform. “It’s July 12, 1998”jokes an employee of Findus, quarantine, in reference to the victory of the French football team at the World Cup. Frédéric Perrot, from the CGT Cheminots, is looking for an equivalent: “Perhaps the 1995 strikes?” At the time, it was already a question of pensions.

In the procession, he notices “every time new faces” since three weeks ago.

“Everyone knows each other here, we know who is demonstrating, who is not demonstrating. And there, it goes beyond the people we usually see, left-wing sympathizers or us trade unionists.”

Frédéric Perrot, trade unionist at the CGT Cheminots

at franceinfo

Moreover, this movement would not be “not a question of left or right”. Willy, sky blue down jacket on his back, is one of the 8,289 Boulogne voters who placed Marine Le Pen in the lead in the second round during the last presidential election in May 2022. It prevents that “I belong here”. “I too am a worker, I too am worried about my retirement. I am 33 years old, I earn 1,700 euros a month. With this reform, I too will take two more years.”

“All winners? But who are they giving a damn?”

In the middle of the Grande-Rue, near the wall of the old town, the sound system spits Freed From Desire. But it is Sébastien, a teacher in a high school in Boulogne-sur-Mer, who is causing a stir: “They want to sink our pensions”, proclaims his sign. So the quadra put on a diving suit. During this time, itwedged between a team of roofers, a delegation of municipal agents and employees of an insurance brand, Nathalie, 53, “discover a world”.

“The unions, the demonstrations, I am not not in all thissays the nursing assistant at the Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital. But this is too serious. I already had shoulder tendinopathy four years ago, I have to have an MRI for my back soon, and Macron wants me to work even longer? I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!” So she told her patients why she wouldn’t be at work “just tuesday”and she joined Sonia, Christèle, Séverine and the other colleagues in white coats. “Too bad if it takes lose 80 euros in salary.”

It’s 5°C, but Pietro Mannarino, a strapping 58-year-old, rolls up the sleeves of his fleece because he wants to show us his arms. “Where does it hurt? Well there, there, and there. Everywhere. Messed up left hand, broken shoulders, osteoporosis…” Of the “memories” nine years with Continental Nutrition, a pet food manufacturer, “to break blocks of meat with an axe, in the cold, doing the three eights”.

“Why am I here? To prevent. Because I want no one to end up like me, starting with my own children.”

Pietro Mannarino, worker

at franceinfo

“The famous first lines, the real ones, they are here”summarizes Thierry Quétu, the FSU regional secretary in Hauts-de-France. “The movement is certainly carried by the unions, but it comes from the population. Unlike large cities, Boulogne is not a city of executives. people have grueling, low-paying jobs. They have the impression that Paris despises them, does not understand them.”

Good point: Angèle almost turned off her TV on Monday before the debates in the National Assembly. “Someone in a suit and tie [un député] said that we would all be winners with the reform. All winners? But who are they kidding? I did a simulation on the internet and I saw what awaited me, fulminates the cashier in a hypermarket of the agglomeration. I don’t expect anything special. But I have rage. Why are we always asked for effort? For what ?”

“Of course I should be in the procession”

At the corner of rue de la Lampe, Daisy Ezeque, 36, films the procession with her phone. “Won’t you come with us instead?” The mother of the family remains silent, embarrassed. “Of course I should be in the procession, confides the one who cleans people’s homes. Working longer means always spending more on gas and expenses. But I can’t go on strike.” Daisy earns the minimum wage and raises two young children. “An increasingly difficult life”to which is added “this retirement story”.

A clamor is heard at the end of the shopping street Adolphe-Thiers. It’s a car that has just honked in support of the procession. Everyone recognized who was driving, “a guy who works for a construction subcontractor” but who cannot go on strike because of construction sites. The inter-union of the first fishing port of France therefore had an idea: to propose another demonstration at nightfall, in front of the sub-prefecture, for those who cannot or do not want to mobilize during the day. A “sort of catch-up session”summarizes Frédéric Perrot of the CGT.

For the first, Tuesday evening, they were something like 200. Boris Fleurquin, line driver at Copalis, wanted to pass a head before spinning to resume his post at 10 p.m. “It’s my way of being in the movement without it biting into my salary”, confesses the 32-year-old father. Valérie Lefebvre, from Ifremer, also joined the group after her day’s work “to mark the occasion”.

A blonde head is more discreet in the middle. She does not want to give her first name, even less her name and her age. She works in the hotel industry in the region and her boss is not “not really agree with the strikes”. She’s there, “That is what matters”, she whispers shyly. Wednesday, like every morning of the week, she will be at work, on time. Neither seen nor known.