French Polynesia: general strike against the vaccine obligation

A largely majority inter-union began Wednesday in French Polynesia a general strike against the vaccine obligation and for the establishment of anti-Covid social measures, a movement more followed in the private sector than in the public service.

The movement mobilizes little in the public service: less than 1% of Polynesian education and administration employees have gone on strike.

It is followed more in companies that present internal claims.

For example, the telephone operator Vini had 38% of strikers on Wednesday.

Domestic air traffic is disrupted by the strike of the airport firefighters: no plane, for example, has been able to land or take off from the island of Raiatea.

To discover

• Energy check: all you need to know about the aid scheme which concerns nearly 5.8 million households

• Prime Macron 2021: how does it work?

Read also Crisis in Guadeloupe: the Minister of Overseas Territories will go there when the situation is stabilized

Four local unions - out of the five in French Polynesia - are contesting the law on compulsory vaccination, voted in August by the assembly of French Polynesia.

All Polynesians who exercise a profession in contact with the public must be vaccinated on December 23.

Less than 58% of Polynesians are vaccinated, despite a strong wave of the Delta variant in August and September, which killed more than 500 people out of 280,000 inhabitants.

The Polynesian President, Édouard Fritch, is prepared to reduce the fine incurred by the non-vaccinated, but not to go back on this law: "

", he said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

A 4% increase in the minimum wage demanded

The unions also want a 4% increase in the minimum wage. The government has said it is ready to increase it by 2% and one point more in a few months. The gross minimum wage is 1,281 euros in Polynesia, where the cost of living is higher than in mainland France. The inter-union is also calling for the creation of a fund to help employees who have lost their jobs, because there is no unemployment fund in this autonomous overseas community.

The striking unions also reject the reform of the governance of the CPS, the local social security, in chronic deficit.

The government wants to be better represented there, to the detriment of employers and unions.

The difficulties of CPS, aggravated by the Covid-19 health crisis, threaten the entire health system, but also the pensions of Polynesians.

Read also Martinique: the mediation recommends a postponement of the vaccination obligation

Édouard Fritch regretted the breakdown of negotiations by the unions after five days of negotiations. “

” he said. But the trade unionists, on the contrary, considered that the president had not satisfied any of their points of demands: "

", regretted Patrick Galenon, general secretary of CSTP-FO, the first local union. Frédéric Dock, the president of the first Polynesian employers' organization, considered that this strike movement was "

" and came "

For the Polynesian economy.

Negotiations had not resumed Wednesday evening (Thursday morning) in Polynesia.