Frederic Michel (from Nice)
modified to
11:21 a.m., March 06, 2023
Transport, schools, road… many sectors are preparing for a general strike in protest against the pension reform project. As for traders, many cannot afford a day’s strike, crushed by the cost of their activity.
A France stopped this Tuesday, March 7 against the pension reform? The message is well received by gas producers and electricians. Since Friday, EDF agents have slowed down the production of electricity. The truckers joined the movement on Sunday evening. The first blocking points reported this morning are in Lesquin, Hauts-de-France region and in Rouen and Orléans. Tuesday also promises to be dark on the transport side. Traders, invited to lower the curtain, are rather circumspect.
“I have to pay my rent”
Like most merchants, Annick will not be closing her store on Tuesday March 7. She is a florist on a large boulevard in Nice. “I can’t. I have too many expenses. I completely understand the mobilization. But the general strike worries me a lot. On March 7, I don’t know what we’re going to find,” explains- she at the microphone of Europe 1. “I stand in solidarity, but on the other side, I have to pay my rent. Of course it’s not very fair to work longer. Despite all the strikes that do people, we see a change in our government”, details this other ready-to-wear merchant.
Tariff increase
For Jean-Marie de Bézieux, president of the Nice trade and crafts federation, the strike is not an option for traders: “We cannot close because a day’s turnover, we needs. We hear but we can’t afford. These are businesses, these are jobs. We had a Covid-19 period and we had to deal with expenses without revenue. We have tariff increases that are are doing in terms of raw materials and our products”.
“We also have this rising energy cost and a change in consumption patterns with the Internet exploding. Today, it is our activity that makes us live. It is our activity that will perhaps be our retirement “, he continues. On the eve of the general strike, traders are worried about the future.