The inter-union stays the course against the pension reform. The eight main French unions and five youth organizations on Tuesday reaffirmed their desire to bring “France to a halt” on March 7, promising to make this date the most important day of strikes and demonstrations since the start of the protest. .
The unions want to “make March 7 the strongest day” since the start of the movement on January 19, declared Yvan Ricordeau, CFDT national secretary, during a press conference after a meeting at headquarters. of the CGT in Montreuil in Seine-Saint-Denis. “There is a consensus between us to say that the objective is to do better than January 31,” he added. That day, the unions had counted more than 2.5 million demonstrators and the authorities 1.27 million. “We are determined to succeed in an extremely massive March 7,” said Catherine Perret (CGT).
Asked about possible renewable strikes from March 7, Yvan Ricordeau returned the responsibility for this decision to the federations of the different sectors. It is up to “the professional sectors to discuss what they are doing on the 7th or after the 7th”, he stressed.
Is it a question of not discouraging possible renewable strikes? “We do not discourage mobilizations that go beyond March 7,” replied Patricia Drevon (FO), referring to this formula from the inter-union press release published on Tuesday: “Together, from March 7, let’s put a kick stop this unacceptable pension reform project”.
Unions don’t want ‘proxy’ strikes
It is up to everyone, in each company, to mobilize, noted Catherine Perret, for whom there will be no strikes or demonstrations “by proxy”. According to her, “the employers will be attentive to what the strike produces: the paralysis, the slowdown or even the cessation of economic production”.
The unions have also agreed to produce a common visual which “symbolizes France at a standstill” and on a communication tool which makes it possible to identify the “thousands, tens of thousands of initiatives”. “All this shows that we are strategic, we know how to mount mobilizations, we are calm, serene, determined and that we are going to win”, hoped Dominique Corona (Unsa).