During school holidays for part of the country, and after four previous days of mobilization, the demonstrators were much fewer on Thursday. A decline anticipated by the unions, who are calling for the next mobilization, on March 7, to be a national success.
A mobilization in sharp decline… but which could only be a respite for the government. The fifth day of demonstration against the pension reform, Thursday, February 16, brought together 440,000 people in the street, according to the Ministry of the Interior. A figure in sharp decline compared to the first four days of the movement, which had gathered between 757,000 and 1.3 million demonstrators, still according to the police. For its part, the CGT counted 1.3 million demonstrators in France, the weakest mobilization since the start of the social movement on January 19.
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The number of strikers is also shrinking. In education, the ministry reported just under 8% of teachers on strike, with two out of three zones on vacation, half as much as on February 7, when only zone A was on vacation. At the SNCF, 14% of agents were absent from their workstation. Again, a figure half as large as February 7. However, this decline is far from frightening the trade unions, who see it only as a step towards a renewed mobilization, on March 7.
“Today, numbers don’t matter”
“The idea is to maintain the mobilization”but “today, numbers don’t matter”assured Thursday morning the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, from Albi (Tarn), where he paraded in the company of the other numbers 1 of the trade union organizations. “It’s school holidays, we know, there is no target number”added Laurent Berger, his CFDT counterpart. “Four times, we had a major mobilization: we know that the movement is a success”also estimated with franceinfo Cyril Chabanier, president of the CFTC.
While the rhythm of the days of mobilization has intensified in recent weeks, the cost of the strike is also being felt by some demonstrators. “We have people who tell us: ‘The fourth or fifth day of the strike, it’s complicated, I’m going to take a break and resume on March 7′”reports Cyril Chabanier.
This decline did not surprise the unions, who had anticipated it. “We did not call a strike, but a simple day of action”reminded franceinfo Patricia Drevon, Confederal Secretary FO, who says “not make today a point of measurement of the movement”. But the call for mobilization remained necessary, according to the inter-union, because the deputies are in the final stretch of the examination of the text, the latter due to end on Friday because of the rules of the game imposed by the executive. “We absolutely wanted to put one last pressure on the deputies before the text goes to the Senate”, confirms Cyril Chabanier. The day before, the inter-union had already sent a letter to parliamentarians, apart from those of the RN, to ask them to reject the reform “and more particularly its article 7”which raises the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
“One Last Warning”
Taking advantage of a low-stakes day, the union leaders therefore wanted to highlight the significant mobilization of small and medium-sized towns since the beginning of the movement by going to Albi.
“Albi is symbolic, it is the homeland of Jaurès. We wanted to mark the fact that the movement is not Parisian. It is a movement of small towns, of the whole territory.”
Patricia Drevon, FO confederal secretaryat franceinfo
“February 16 is a step, a last warning for the governmentsums up Dominique Corona, deputy general secretary of Unsa. We were quite responsible, and we still are, but the government has to hear that we have to get back to work.” Otherwise, the inter-union counts well “bring France to a standstill” March 7. That day, “we block everything, everything must stop everywhere”supported Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder of La France insoumise, in the procession of Montpellier, Thursday. “The objective is to really have a country at a standstill, with a maximum of people who are not going to work (…) in all sectors. We want to have the whole population with us, the traders who are pulling the curtain even an hour or two”explains Cyril Chabanier.
Renewable strikes to “move to a higher stage”?
“Since the government obviously does not want to hear anything about this great social movement, it is quite obvious that there are not 36 solutions” for the unions, deciphered, Thursday morning on franceinfo, Stéphane Sirot, historian specializing in social movements. “Either they renew endlessly these classic days of action, which do not move the lines – in any case not in a sufficiently strong way. Or they go to a higher stage.” With the risk of losing the support of the population? The call for a general strike in early March, after several days of classic mobilization, currently has the approval of nearly 6 out of 10 French people, according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV.
Other actions are already planned for the next day, International Women’s Day. And while some high schools are blocked and university sites closed, the main youth organizations have also announced a day of mobilization on March 9. What give desires of renewable strikes. The RATP unions have already called for it, as well as the CGT garbage collectors, from March 7. If this is not the case for the inter-union for the moment, certain confederations like Solidaires are in favor of it.
“This day of March 7 is important, it is also a sign that the population which has demonstrated so far can go further if necessary.. But one day won’t be enoughbelieves Murielle Guilbert, general co-delegate of Solidaires, in The Sunday newspaper (article reserved for subscribers). Until then, Philippe Martinez promises “other initiatives”For “that the mobilization continues to be expressed, including during a period of school holidays”.