Belgium and Greece set the tone on Wednesday with calls for a general strike against soaring prices.
Severely disrupted transport is also the scenario expected in France this Thursday, particularly in Paris where the RATP – with unions very upset by the arrival of Jean Castex at the head of the company and in the midst of wage negotiations – invites the Parisians to stay in telework or to postpone their trips in anticipation of a dark day in the metro and the RER.
On the other hand, traffic will be normal on the TGVs and “slightly disturbed” on the Intercités and the TERs, announces the SNCF.
For the third time in a few weeks since the start of the school year, the CGT is calling for a strike and mobilization.
A new Thursday of "struggle" which promises - without great surprise - to be much less followed than in our neighbors and than during the previous days of action.
The union will parade once again solo (the second after last October 27) in the streets, on the eve of a public holiday... Between 180 and 200 assembly points are announced with always in sight to win the indexation of wages to inflation, a central demand among employees so as not to lose purchasing power.
Notices have also been filed in the departmental unions and appeals concern the public service.
“Keep the flame burning” until the pension reform
Since September, the organization of Philippe Martinez has been struggling with difficulty to raise the mayonnaise of social discontent on wages.
A watchword yet very concerning in the midst of an explosion in prices, but which is struggling to take hold at the national level.
A rehearsal tactic assumed by the CGT supposed to allow “to maintain the flame”, the time to engage on the other particularly unifying theme: that of the pension reform which collects the massive opposition of the French in the polls.
Problem: the calendar is in the hands of the government, the only one to have complete control of it.
The executive has no intention of showing its cards too quickly, especially on possible concessions.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that it would not be until at least mid-December.
A tempo set on the consultations carried out with the social partners, argues the ministry of Olivier Dussopt, in charge of these discussions.
A strategy which, seen with a little hindsight, is also akin to a race against time to hold out until the Christmas holidays and leave the unions little time to retaliate before the examination of the bill scheduled for the end of winter.
Without a definitive project, difficult to counter-attack
What, of course, seriously complicate the task of trade unions, yet all ready to do battle on the decline of the legal age to 64 or 65 years.
But as long as they don't have the final project in front of them, it's difficult to counterattack.
Moreover, Laurent Berger, of the CFDT, warned: no question for his organization to give in to what he calls "the prevention strike"!
“The anger will rise especially from 2023!
" The confederal secretary of the CGT, Céline Verzeletti, is convinced: " The government will have been obliged to reveal its intentions, the unions will then see if they have been led by boat.
Moreover, the social climate promises to be more and more explosive with the inexorable rise in inflation announced at the start of next year,” she forecasts.
Until then, several inter-union meetings should still be held, including the next one at the end of November.
In the meantime, the unions still on the sidelines could also lose patience...
