Posted Jan 30, 2023, 6:03 PMUpdated on Jan 30, 2023 at 6:08 p.m.
Will they do as well as January 19? Less good ? Better ? This is the whole issue of the second day of mobilization against the pension reform organized by the unions on Tuesday. Paradoxically, the clear success of the first day of mobilization (more than 1 million demonstrators) sets the bar very high. The 2010 record, during the movement against the previous pension reform, according to police counts is 1.23 million demonstrators.
The polls go in the direction of the inter-union, in particular with the growing hostility of women to the bill. Opinion remains overwhelmingly opposed to the reform. But the unions know that they have to prove that the momentum is on their side also in the street.
The census of meeting points in France suggests that this is the case, with estimates varying between 215, counting only the parades, and 270 or even up to 300 by integrating any other actions, such as the torchlight procession.
The union unity which is the strength of the movement is available in both professional and geographical fields, which should continue to fuel the processions. Example in the Val-de-Marne, whose departmental union CGT is among the ultras of the central. She has just signed a joint appeal on January 31 with her counterparts from the CFDT and Force Ouvrière.
Transport disrupted
For the time being, while transport will be disrupted, but not necessarily completely blocked, the forecasts in education, one of the sensitive points of any social movement, do not however give the feeling of a tidal wave, with a rate of strikers announced by the teacher unions from kindergarten to high school of 50% against 70% 10 days ago.
“The turnover, with colleagues who tell us that they cannot go on strike for two days in a row and reserve themselves for the next one, comes a little faster than we expected, but at the same time, sectors which had mobilized a little less on the 19th will be more so”, explains the secretary general of the FSU Benoît Teste, who thinks that there should in total “be more people in the demonstrations”.
The leader of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, for his part evoked “one or two demonstrations of force” so that the government “become aware of the powerful rejection that his text arouses”. To what extent will the context of inflation and the concern for purchasing power weigh on the expression of discontent? It is one of the unknowns of this social movement, another being the influx or not of young people in the processions.
11,000 police officers mobilized
A third unknown is whether calm will prevail in the processions as was the case on January 19, very little violence having been to be deplored. “When there are a lot of people, it limits the nuisance power of the black blocks”, wants to believe a seasoned trade unionist. 11,000 police officers will be mobilized, 1,000 more than during the first day of strikes and demonstrations. 4,000 will be present in Paris where a load shedding route has already been decided.
At the end of the Parisian demonstration, where this time again, the leaders of the eight French unions will parade side by side, the intersyndicale will meet this Tuesday at the end of the day, this time at the headquarters of Force Ouvrière, in Paris to decide what to do next.