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Pension reform: how unions are trying to keep the protest flame

2020-02-22T07:20:51.898Z


Opponents of the reform are diversifying their modes of action, while mobilization is weakening.


The next day of inter-professional mobilization of actions against the pension reform is set for March 31. Until then, the unions (CGT, FO, Solidaires, FSU, youth and student organizations) need to keep the flame alive, while for the tenth day of mobilization, less than 100,000 people (92,000 according to the 'Interior) demonstrated throughout France, when there were more than 800,000 on December 5, at the launch of the movement.

Union leaders assure that the dispute does not die out even as the examination of the government reform project started Monday in the National Assembly. To blow on the embers, the intersyndicale called Thursday evening to " continue the actions relentlessly, in all the forms decided locally ".

Flashmob, dress throw

Torch retreats, gathering in front of a parliamentarian's office ... all means are good for occupying the ground. We are trying to diversify the modes of action. To offer original, more playful, more family-friendly things to attract another, less crowded public, ”emphasizes Boris Plazzi, Confederal Secretary of the CGT.

Opponents are also looking to create a buzz. Here and there, since the beginning of the movement against pension reform, opponents have not hesitated to stage themselves and use the sounding board that are social networks. Like these demonstrators in work overalls, scarves with red polka dots and household gloves with the effigy of " Rosie the riveter ", who took over the Gare de l'Est in Paris on January 24 for a flashmob, diverting the tube "because of the boys". A choreography resumed on February 17 by several parliamentarians from La France insoumise and EELV before the National Assembly, including Clémentine Autain, Manon Aubry and Esther Benbassa.

Other media actions: lawyers who throw off their dresses, like those of the Caen bar who removed their dresses during a visit by the Minister of Justice to Caen, on January 8, to protest against the disappearance of their pension plan . A symbolic gesture that has also been taken up by carers with their coats, teachers with their school textbook, or even labor inspectors with their Labor Code. Everyone goes there on their own initiative to make themselves heard: like the lawyers of the Mulhouse bar who put their dresses on sale on the Le Bon Coin site.

Wednesday, January 8 in Caen, lawyers gathered in front of the Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet, threw their robes. Nicolas CLAICH / AFP

Read also: Pension reform: why do lawyers throw away the dress?

Are these new forms of mobilization effective? " I doubt that an original action will move the government, " concedes Yves Verrier, secretary general of FO. The idea is to keep the flame alive with enthusiasm and determination. "As for the traditional events," they serve to give visibility to our action. But they are now complemented by new forms of action, more original, more fun, more family-friendly, ”adds Boris Plazzi of the CGT.

In union culture, if you want to impose it, it is by force of number.

Dominique Andolfatto, professor of political science at the University of Burgundy

Because if this social movement has for him the duration, (two and a half months), it has never reached the million demonstrators as during the pension reform under Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. " In union culture, if the we want to impose it, it's by force of number. We can renew the forms of demonstrations, but as long as they do not manage to mobilize, these recurrent demonstrations will not change anything, "believes Dominique Andolfatto, professor of political science at the University of Burgundy and specialist in social movements.

If these actions show latent discontent, the bulk of the mass of employees does not manifest. They are more spectators. The problem with the unions is that they have failed to convince private sector workers to join them. Remember that in France the rate of unionization is very low in companies: out of 25 million employees, public and private combined, only one employee in ten adheres to a union structure.

Read also: French people less and less unionized

" Wage has spread widely, the strike is going less well, it is more complicated to mobilize ", recognizes Yves Verrier . There are no longer these large collectives of 10,000 workers who could go on strike at once. Today, the fragmentation of wages translates into different forms of mobilization, more fragmented ”. Thus forcing unions to show imagination, to reinvent their forms of action.

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2020-02-22

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