“This changing world is distressing and the drop in the birth rate is an indication of this fear of the future,” believes Jean Viard

As the Olympic Games approach, some unions are increasing the pressure. An Olympic Games effect on social dialogue? A social question deciphered by sociologist Jean Viard.

Strikes, agreements, negotiations in progress: Social news often makes the headlines 3 months before the Olympic Games. We saw it again this week with agreements at the RATP, at the SNCF, and among air traffic controllers.

franceinfo: Can we talk about an Olympic Games effect on social dialogue?

Jean Viard: Yes, that seems pretty obvious to me. And what’s more, it was predictable, we’ve been hearing gendarmes, police officers and all that asking for bonuses for several months, which is actually quite legitimate. And so, it’s certain, it’s a kind of hurdle to jump and basically, we’re going to purge social dialogue, certainly in many places because of the Olympics. At the time, there were big struggles for increase in salaries, and we increased by 5, 10% for everyone. Now, we have professions that hold the keys, notably, obviously, transport, but it could also be garbage collectors. And so, effectively, they turn off the tap, and then they defend themselves. They do not defend the world of work, the working class, etc.

These are corporate struggles, that’s true too, that’s a bit of one of the problems because there are people who don’t have the keys. And when we see the gap in remuneration even within the world of work, many employees, for example those at Casino at the moment, or other large retail stores, are more often paid for their entire life barely above the minimum wage. So there, there is a form of inequality, because basically, there is no longer a class versus class fight, there are actually these fights.

And how do you receive this idea put forward by Emmanuel Macron, repeated of an Olympic truce? There is this major event, and then there is this desire of the social partners, and in particular the unions, to seize opportunities to carry out their fight. How to receive this idea of ​​an Olympic truce?

So, there are two things, the Olympic truce, it is also a military truce, so it is also the idea that perhaps in Palestine, in Israel, in Ukraine obviously, it can be an opportunity to make a truce which can be disguised as an Olympic truce and which is at the same time a way of making a truce which we cannot make, since the idea was that during the Olympic Games, in ancient Greece, we stopped the fighting. Afterwards, within our society, let’s not complicate our lives, because there are never strikes in August, nor in July… so it doesn’t change anything.

Before the month of August, there are these notices which are filed with a view to the Olympic Games, but there is no major social demonstration at this very moment, despite a difficult economic context for a whole part of population. How do you explain it? Will May 1st, in four days, be a good thermometer?

First, I think we are exaggerating the situation in society. There are people in great difficulty, I am sure of it, but I think they are still a very small minority. Afterwards, the great social struggles, as Maurice Thorez said, “are when there is wheat to grind”. At the moment, there is no wheat to grind. Everyone is wondering where the wheat went? So it is not appropriate for major social struggles now. There may be movements of anger, there may be angry people, there may be in Saint-Etienne, if we lay off 300, 500, 600 people, Casino seats, hard points of conflict. But honestly, this is not the time for major social struggles. I do not believe that.

In addition, I think that people today are worried about a world that is changing so quickly. And the world has changed. This is what politicians should be explaining all day long! We were in a model: the industrial revolution, progress, etc. and we suddenly turned around, and nature is making our story, and we have to fight, adapt, etc. We have to be in a community and so deep down, people can be angry about that. Yes, we can hit Macron, we can hit Mélenchon, if that can entertain the media news, but in reality, there is an anxiety in the society of this world which is born, and I say it every time, the decline of the birth rate is the index of this fear of the future.