Pensions: the unions are already hailing a "historic mobilization"

For this sixth day of action against the pension reform, the unions had announced that they wanted to put France "at a standstill".

Shortly before the departure of the Parisian procession around 14:00 p.m., the secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger, welcomed a "historic mobilization with regard to the last 40 or 50 years" with approximately "20%" more demonstrators than during the day of the January 31. This had brought together 1,27 million participants according to the authorities, 2,5 million according to the organizers.

"We have succeeded in our bet, which was to show the determination of the world of work", continued the leader of the CFDT, believing that the government "cannot remain deaf" to this mobilization against the postponement of the legal age of departure. from 62 to 64 years old.

His CGT counterpart Philippe Martinez assured him that "it will be the strongest day of mobilization since the start of this conflict", warning the executive against "a forced passage (which) would only put gunpowder fire".

But the rates of strikers were a little below the best scores recorded since the beginning of the movement, among railway workers as among teachers.

A new meeting of the inter-union is scheduled for the evening to decide on the follow-up to the movement.

A France at a standstill, "it's obviously bad for our fellow citizens", and "the first penalized, when we have strikes, are the most modest French people", criticized Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Monday evening, defending a reform that will ensure the sustainability of "one of the pillars of our social model".

The first processions were provided, at a level comparable to the record mobilization of January 31.

They were in particular between 6.000 (prefecture) and 30.000 (CGT) in Nice, between 13.000 and 23.000 in Bayonne, between 20.500 and 55.000 in Grenoble or between 7.000 and 16.000 in Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées).

In Marseille, where the day had started with the message "the hour is strike" written with the bomb on several walls of the city, the CGT reported 245.000 demonstrators (against 205.000 on January 31), 30.000 according to the prefecture ( 40.000 on January 31).

"Anger"

The CGT had planned a total of 265 rallies. Intelligence anticipated, according to a police source, between 1,1 and 1,4 million participants on Tuesday, including 60 to 90.000 in Paris.

Many roadblocks were identified, from Perpignan to Miramas (Bouches-du-Rhône) via Poitiers or Rennes, where demonstrators blocked an important road axis causing "many damage" according to the prefecture.

Poll after poll, the French remain overwhelmingly opposed to the emblematic measure of the reform, the postponement of the legal age of departure, even if they think that it will be implemented in fine.

This sixth day since the launch of the protest marks the launch or continuation of renewable strikes in several sectors, from transport to refineries through energy, trade or waste.

wild cuts

In addition to the SNCF and the RATP - where traffic was very disrupted on Tuesday (with 39% of strikers at noon among the railway workers, from a union source), a situation which was to continue on Wednesday -, and the actions of truck drivers, the Directorate General of the Civil Aviation (DGAC) has asked companies to reduce their flight schedules by 20 to 30% for these two days.

In education, blockades took place in universities and high schools, and the ministry reported 32,71% of teachers on strike. The Snuipp-FSU, the leading primary union, has identified 60% of striking college and high school teachers.

The secretary general of CGT Energy, Sébastien Ménesplier, has forecast a "dark week" in the sector, with production cuts mainly in nuclear power.

In Boulogne-sur-Mer, and in the surrounding municipalities, "wild" power cuts took place successively between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., affecting up to 4.000 Enedis customers, the electricity distributor told AFP. At 13 p.m., 1.500 customers were still without electricity.

Fuel shipments were blocked Tuesday morning at the exit of "all refineries" in France (TotalEnergies, Esso-ExxonMobil and Petroineos), according to the CGT-Chimie union.

And in gas, three of the four LNG terminals in France were shut down for "seven days" on Monday by the unions.

The garbage collectors are also called to the renewable strike by the CGT. And three incineration plants near the capital (Ivry, Saint-Ouen and Issy) were blocked.

Unusually, river traffic on the Rhine was at a standstill due to the blockages of several locks.

The week will be interspersed with other mobilizations, in parallel with the debates in the Senate where the government is counting on the adoption of the reform by Sunday. He is considering "a vote on March 16" in both chambers.

"If the reform is adopted, it is unlikely that the mobilization will be maintained at this level", anticipates a government source, which expects a disengagement of the reformist unions.

"The law is extremely important, but so is real democracy", warned Laurent Berger, warning against a forced passage of 49.3 which would be "an unacceptable form of blockage".

And for Philippe Martinez, a text "which is voted on by parliamentarians but which has such disapproval in public opinion" is not "valid".

Faced with "the deadlock situation", Emmanuel Macron must "find a way out from above", "or else a dissolution" of the National Assembly, "or else a referendum", pleaded Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI) to Marseilles.