It was to be a "
strong signal
".
Under a capricious weather, several trade unions and youth organizations mobilized on Tuesday.
The CGT, FSU, Solidaires et Force Ouvrière, on the one hand, and UNEF, UNL, Fidl and MNL, on the other hand, united several thousand people behind a large number of demands.
In Paris, Force Ouvrière and the CGT claimed “
25,000
” participants.
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For union representatives, met near Place de la République, the message conveyed on Tuesday was clear: “
we will be there tomorrow
” to defend their positions. The mobilization had the value of a triple warning, towards the government, the presidential candidates and the employers, explained the secretary general of Force Ouvrière to
Le Figaro.
"
We will be there tomorrow on salaries, employment, pensions, the public service, whoever is in charge,
" said Yves Veyrier. His organization will carefully scrutinize the programs of the candidates for the 2022 election, and warns against overbidding "
budgetary orthodoxy
", as well as against the promises of Gascon.
"We will be there tomorrow on salaries, employment, pensions, the civil service, whoever will be in charge," insisted Yves Veyrier. WGB / Le Figaro
Its teams also remain mobilized against the reform of unemployment insurance, and will submit their appeal to the Council of State on Tuesday or Wednesday, announced Yves Veyrier. "
The government persists
", regretted the representative. FO, like the CGT, remains windy against any return of a pension reform. "
Now it is clear: the Prime Minister who wore it in 2019, Édouard Philippe,
is explicit, 65, 66 or 67 years old
", noted the secretary general of FO, opposed to any increase in the starting age. "
We have a problem of unemployment among seniors [...] this is not how we are going to solve it
", he judged.
The unions also hope that the mobilizations will "
boost negotiations in branches and companies
" to obtain wage increases. "
It is absolutely unacceptable that certain second-line trades must wait for months to see the increases arrive on their payslip
", annoyed the secretary general of the CGT for whom "the
fate of these workers has not not changed for a year and a half
”. The issue of wages will be "
central in the presidential campaign
," said Philippe Martinez, welcoming that the unions have put this issue forward. Because the horizon remains hazy: "
the increase in energy prices will hit, this winter, in the household wallet
, ”worried Yves Veyrier, who called for upgrading jobs“
stuck to the minimum wage
”.
"The increase in energy prices will hit, this winter, in the portfolio of households", worried Yves Veyrier.
WGB / Le Figaro
If the representatives carried a "
clear
"
message
, in particular to the contenders for the Élysée Palace, the participants defended various claims. The walkers crossed in the procession, which shook in a good-natured atmosphere, thus defended an abandonment of the unemployment insurance reform, which the stopping of any project of return of the pension reform, better pensions for retirees, an increase in wages ... A myriad of requirements, difficult to summarize. Some, more radical, also demanded a demolition of the capitalist system.
"
I am demonstrating for the first time
", explained to
Le Figaro
a thirty-something Parisian working in metallurgy. He took to the streets for wages, purchasing power, pensions. Chasuble CGT on the back, cigarette on his lips, he discovers the demonstrations. The rest, "
we'll see,
" he told us. Behind, students gathered opposed the selection to the university, with a lot of slogans. Under a sudden rain, their cries echoed on rue La Fayette. A little further, Atos employees are committed against an outsourcing project of "
more than 200 employees
", seeing hidden layoffs. "
We want to put pressure on the management, we want to stay at Atos
», Explains an employee.
Closely supervised by the police, the mobilization turned out to be disappointing: on
LCI
, Monday, Philippe Martinez hoped several tens of thousands of people in Paris, so that "
all the anger that one feels
" puts pressure on the executive. "
50,000 people, for example,
" quoted the head of the CGT. But only 25,000 participants responded in the end, according to union figures. Not enough to disconcert the organizations: "
the mobilization is there, we wanted to give a union signal [...] I have good figures, 25,000 in Paris [...] The activists, members, are mobilized, in all sectors of activity, so I am not disappointed at all
”, commented Yves Veyrier in the evening, on
BFM Business
.
160,000 people demonstrated throughout France, according to the CGT.
Numbers probably too low to make the government flex.