Rallies at the call of trucking unions demanding wage increases in the face of soaring inflation.
Filtering barriers with distribution of leaflets were organized this Monday morning at the entrance to several industrial areas throughout France.
Dams causing slowdowns were in place at dawn in Orléans (Loiret), Miramas (Bouches-du-Rhône) or Lunéville (Meurthe-et-Moselle), according to the CGT.
Read also“We can no longer continue like this”: national truckers’ strike on Monday to demand wage increases
In Hauts-de-France, two filter dams were set up at the entrance to two major logistics activity areas, one at the exit from Lille and the other near Arras (Pas-de-Calais ) causing large queues of vehicles at rush hour.
For the immediate reopening of wage negotiations
In Lille, on a motorway exit towards Valenciennes, around fifty people in orange CFDT vests were mobilized, blocking the motorway exit leading to the Mélantois business area, not far from the airport, noted an AFP journalist.
They distributed leaflets to motorists, criticizing the “ostrich policy” in terms of the salaries of “transport and government bosses”, despite “successive increases due to galloping and exponential inflation, a severe shortage of employees ( …) and the purchasing power which melts like snow in the sun”.
"Most of the minima of the conventional branches are below the Smic", indicated Fabien Michaud, CGT-Transports delegate.
"In addition there is no desire from employers (to increase wages) because the more they give salaries close to the minimum wage, the more exemptions they have", he added.
The unions are calling for the immediate reopening of wage negotiations after those of October which led to a revaluation of the grids by 6%.
A “significant movement” in September
The objective of this day "is to count" in the perspective of a potentially turbulent return, according to Fabien Michaud.
"We have set September for a significant movement if we do not have a favorable response from the government and employers," he warned.
A little later in the morning, the industrial areas of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), Caen (Calvados) and Moissy-Cramayel (Seine-et-Marne) were in turn slowed down by filter dams.
At 11 a.m., the truckers aimed to install the same device in front of the Amazon warehouse near Metz.
All road transport professionals, which includes truck drivers but also bus drivers, ambulance attendants or cash transporters, are called to strike by an inter-union made up of the CGT, the CFDT, FO, the CFTC and the CFE-CGC.