The eight main French unions said they were ready on Saturday to “bring France to a halt in all sectors on March 7” if the government and Parliament “remain deaf” to the mobilization against the pension reform.
While a fourth day of demonstrations is underway, the unions confirmed at a press conference their call for a fifth act on February 16, asking the executive to “withdraw its bill” and parliamentarians to “massively reject this text”.
“If despite everything, (they) remained deaf to popular protest, the inter-union would call (…) to harden the movement by bringing France to a halt in all sectors on March 7,” warned the eight organizations, in a press release read by the general secretary of Force Ouvrière, Frédéric Souillot.
“The ball is in the president’s court”
The date of March 8, International Women’s Rights Day, is also planned “to highlight the major social injustice of this reform against women”.
For the leader of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, “the ball is in the camp of the President of the Republic and the government to know if the movement must be amplified, hardened or if they take into account the current mobilizations “.
The number one of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, estimated that this announcement “of a hardening on March 7, that leaves a little time if they want to react”, and blamed “the firm and definitive position of the government” on raising the legal age from 62 to 64.