Fuel shipments blocked at the exit of refineries, massively canceled trains, closed schools, renewable strikes, uncollected trash cans: mobilization was strong on Tuesday in France for the sixth day of action against a highly contested pension reform wanted by Emmanuel Macron .
In an attempt to bend the government and before possible renewals of the strike in the coming days, the unions are trying in unison to put France “on hold” on Tuesday. A new meeting of the inter-union is scheduled for the evening to decide on the follow-up to the movement.
The secretary general of the CFDT (reformist), Laurent Berger, hailed a “historic mobilization”, his CGT counterpart Philippe Martinez assuring by his side, before the departure of the Parisian procession, that “it will be the strongest day of mobilization since the beginning of this conflict”.
This is, since January 19, the sixth day of action against this pension reform and its postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, to which the French are, according to polls, mostly hostile. , deeming it “unfair”, especially for women and for employees in arduous jobs.
In Clermont-Ferrand, Kevin Ferreira demonstrates for the first time, because he “does not want to do two more years”. At 30, this facade designer who “works a lot with his arms”, is “not even sure to go until 62 years old”. So “64 years old I can’t even imagine”.
In a bus depot in Paris, a dozen students mingle with the general assembly of drivers. “It is important to prevent this reform from passing,” says Youri Le Merour, 21, otherwise the French executive “will try to pass anything on immigration or the SNU, this mini-military service which does not have to be,” he says.
Energy, transport, education, waste: many sectors were affected by the strikes.
Fuel shipments were blocked on Tuesday at the exit of “all refineries” in France, the CGT-Chemistry union told AFP.
At the national railway company SNCF, 80% of trains were canceled, with international connections degraded or even interrupted between France and Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Traffic is also very disrupted in the Paris metro where traffic is normal only on lines 1 and 14 (automated).
Unusually, river traffic on the Rhine was at a standstill due to the blockages of several locks.
In Lille, most buses were not running and in Marseille (south), the two metro lines and one in three tram lines were closed.
“Find an exit”
In the air, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has asked companies to reduce their flight schedules on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Three of the four LNG terminals in France were shut down for “seven days” on Monday by the unions.
This day of mobilization results Tuesday in an average rate of striking teachers of 32.71%, including 35.35% in primary and 30.09% in secondary (colleges and high schools) according to the ministry, well below union figures. The SNUIPP-FSU and SNES-FSU unions have for their part announced striker rates of at least 60% in the first and second degree.
In Paris, the three waste incinerators were inoperative and garbage collection was blocked in part of the capital.
Before the start of the demonstration in Marseille, the leader of La France insoumise (LFI – radical left) Jean-Luc Mélenchon estimated that faced with “the deadlock situation” on the pension reform project, Emmanuel Macron must “find a exit from above”, “or else a dissolution” of the National Assembly, “or else a referendum”.
Emmanuel Macron plays a significant part of his political credit on this flagship measure of his second five-year term, symbol of his declared desire to reform, but which today crystallizes the discontent of part of the French against him.
France is one of the European countries where the legal retirement age is the lowest, without the pension systems being completely comparable. The government has chosen to raise it to respond to the financial deterioration of pension funds and the aging of the population.
The bill carrying this reform, under discussion before the Senate, has already brought millions of French people to the streets and given rise to heated debates in the National Assembly. The government is counting on the adoption of the reform in the Senate by Sunday, and is considering “a vote on March 16” in both chambers of Parliament.