The CGT knew it risked a flop. The scenario has, unsurprisingly, come true. According to the Ministry of the Interior, some 14,000 people beat the pavement on Thursday, October 27, across the country at the call of the union led by Philippe Martinez to request a “increase in wages, pensions and social minima”. The direction of the confederation, it does not give figures, speaking only of “major mobilization”.
In the capital, they were 1,360, according to the official count. In Marseille, the police headquarters puts forward the figure of 540 demonstrators. Participation is therefore weak and in very marked decline compared to the two national days of interprofessional action, which took place on September 29 and October 18 (around 110,000 to 120,000 people in the street, for the whole France, according to State services).
All the ingredients were there for the crowd to be very small on Thursday. In full school holidays, the initiative was carried, essentially, by the CGT, while three other organizations were associated with the previous mobilization (FO, FSU, Solidaires). In a text broadcast on Wednesday, Frédéric Souillot, the number one of FO, had expressed strong reservations about the strategy of the CGT: “We do not believe in the succession of “leapfrog” strike days, synonymous with inefficiency and demobilization”he said.
Questioned, Thursday afternoon, by the journalists while he was in the square of head of the Parisian procession, Mr. Martinez recognized that, $ in any social movement, there could be ” highs and lows “. “Our concern is to maintain the mobilization”, he justified, to exert pressure on companies and the government. Without these moves to action at the national level, the struggles for wage increases – like at TotalEnergies – would be less effective or would not have seen the light of day, according to Mr. Martinez.
A new common expression
Asked about the statements of Emmanuel Macron, Wednesday evening on France 2, the secretary general of the CGT judged them ” Aboveground “. “We see the gap between his own life and that of almost all French people”, he continued, emphasizing the runaway prices for energy and basic necessities, which are putting millions of households in difficulty. Mr. Martinez also commented on the words of the Head of State, Wednesday evening, on the pension reform – with this new hypothesis of a legal retirement age set at 64 (instead of 65) and a increase in the contribution period to be entitled to a full pension. “It’s a fool’s market”denounced the head of the CGT, welcoming that the unions are unanimously opposed to the intention of the President of the Republic.
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