After a strong united mobilization in 2023 against pension reform, the main unions are calling to take to the streets on Wednesday 1er May with various demands. On this International Workers’ Day, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) lists more than 265 rallies and demonstrations across France, in the range ” high “according to his secretary, Céline Verzeletti.
Some processions started at 10 a.m., such as in Strasbourg, Marseille and Clermont-Ferrand. In Paris, the demonstration must start at 2 p.m. from Place de la République towards Place de la Nation. On a national level, “120,000 to 150,000” demonstrators are expected, according to a note from the territorial intelligence services. This is significantly less than in 2023, when the mobilization brought together nearly 800,000 demonstrators, according to the authorities and 2.3 million, according to the CGT. For comparison, it was eight to ten times more than in 2022, when the police counted some 116,000 demonstrators and the CGT, 210,000.
In Paris, between 15,000 and 30,000 people are expected by the authorities, including 400 to 800 radical demonstrators. Pro-Palestinian activists could swell the ranks of the processions, particularly in Paris, and the ” critics “ Olympic Games could benefit from this free platform, says the information note. But the authorities generally expect demonstrations “with a rather festive and family character” And “more peaceful” than last year, when the day was marked by sometimes violent clashes in the capital and other cities such as Nantes or Lyon. According to police sources, 12,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized, including 5,000 in Paris.
No national inter-professional slogan
Unity remains quite broad, since the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT) and Unsa will be with the CGT, FSU and Solidaires. But, unlike 2023, where the eight main French unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, UNSA, Solidaires, FSU) marched together against pension reform, there is no word of national interprofessional order.
The CGT, FSU, and Solidaires, as well as youth organizations including the UNEF, the FAGE or the MNL (National High School Movement), have launched a joint appeal in particular “against austerity”for employment and wages or even peace. “We demand to live better!” »proclaims the center led by Sophie Binet, denouncing in particular “government violence”while a new unemployment insurance reform is announced as well as a “Work II” law expected in the fall.
The first French union, the CFDT, for its part called for “join the processions organized throughout France, to demand a more ambitious and more protective Europe for workers”. Its number one, Marylise Léon, will be in Nancy, where she will participate in a debate on the issues of the European elections. His FO counterpart, Frédéric Souillot, will be practically at the other end of France, in Montauban, in Occitanie.
As the European elections approach, several leading candidates will be present in the processions such as that of the Socialist Party (PS) and Place publique, Raphaël Glucksmann, in Saint-Etienne or La France insoumise (LFI), Manon Aubry, in Lyon then Paris.
Even if “it will be different from last year”Céline Verzeletti, expects ” a 1er-May important in mobilization »on the background “attacks on freedoms”including unions, and a social situation “very degraded”. “This was not seen by certain unions as absolutely requiring unity on this day”, observes Murielle Guilbert, co-delegate of Solidaires. But, she said, given the issues of the moment, “we better have a nice 1er-May “.