Category: Technology

This time, it was the turn of the CFTC to open the procession in Paris against the pension reform, and the turn of the CGT, in the lead on January 19, to close the march. Despite the establishment of a second route, the troops of Philippe Martinez like those of Laurent Berger, who were just in front, had to wait in Place d’Italie for three hours before they could begin to advance even though the first demonstrators were near from the point of arrival, at Les Invalides.

There were many people in the capital for this second day of inter-union mobilization against the increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, the flagship measure of the pension reform project. The procession was punctuated by a few scuffles, but nothing to spoil the mobilization which was, like the previous one, festive and mixing young working people, seniors and retirees, with a few young students and high school students scattered around. There were 87,000 demonstrators in Paris, according to the police, compared to 80,000 on January 19. The independent firm Occurrence, mandated by media including “Les Echos”, has identified 55,000.

“Our organizations are different, but we share the need to find a way to bring the CGT together. “This is how a letter begins, of which “Les Echos” was aware, which was sent Monday evening to the management of the plant by 18 of the 33 federations of the second French union.

This letter, the principle of which was recorded at a meeting attended by 22 federations last week, comes as the next congress of the central must designate the successor to Philippe Martinez at the end of March. Marie Buisson, the candidate chosen by the CGT, is struggling to impose herself.

A special solemnity

The 18 federations ask the CGT leader to open a debate between the CGT organizations before the congress on “the design and operation of the confederal management [et sur] the methods of construction of the confederal office”. Including, therefore, the designation of the general secretary. The deadline is very close since the last meeting before the congress of the National Confederal Committee of the central which brings together the number one of the departmental federations and unions starts this Wednesday for two days.

Such a request is not new and until then, the number one of the plant has always refused, arguing the legitimacy of the one he appointed in June to succeed him. This time, however, the interpellation takes on a particular solemnity.

Two-thirds of members

Its value is first and foremost due to its signatories: they represent some 390,000 members, i.e. two-thirds of the 605,606 CGT members registered in 2021. There are also four of the first five federations of the central: health, public services, energy and trade. The only thing missing in the quintet is the third CGT force, the federation of metallurgy, the one from which Philippe Martinez comes.

The legitimacy of the interpellation is also reinforced by the diversity of the signatories. From chemistry, supporter of the ultra Olivier Mateu, who wants to run against Marie Buisson, to the Syndicate of Journalists, rather favorable to the latter’s candidacy, all say they are “worried about the fractures that are widening in [l’]organization “. Fractures fueled by opponents of Philippe Martinez, but also his relatives, who, in an attempt to impose his candidate, fuel very controversial petitions accusing those who do not support Marie Buisson of misogyny.

The risk of a new crisis

Finally, the letter is also worth the alert it contains on the risk, not to open the discussion before the congress, of triggering a new crisis at the CGT. The union still bears the stigmata of that opened at the departure of Bernard Thibault. Pleading to work on a rally that allows us to leave the congress with “a very broadly adopted orientation and direction”, the 18 federations refuse to “take the risk of leaving [du congrès] with a badly or not elected management” They thus return in fact to the team of Philippe Martinez the responsibility for such a scenario.

The signatories of the letter have planned to meet on Thursday, after the CCN meeting, whose management will have to modify the agenda if it wants to make a gesture of openness. Failing this, some plan to request an extraordinary CCN before the start of the congress, but it is not certain that they will be followed, as the initiative seems divisive. What is certain is that the CGT will enter a strong zone of turbulence if the succession of Philippe Martinez is settled at the congress.

Second day of arm wrestling. Ten days after the first mobilization against the pension reform, the unions are banking on a movement as massive as that of last week to increase pressure on the government.

In practice, Ile-de-France transport is already “severely disrupted”. A significant mobilization is also expected in schools, many of which keep their doors closed for lack of staff.

At the same time, the text is already the subject of discussions in the National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee. On January 19, between 1.12 million demonstrators – according to the authorities – and more than 2 million – according to the CGT – had marched in the streets to oppose the extension of the starting age to 64 years.

» Follow the events of this Tuesday, January 31 live

8:14 a.m. – Electricity production down in EDF power plants

The EDF strikers this night caused load reductions in the power plants of “nearly 3,000 MW”, the equivalent of three nuclear reactors, but without causing any cuts.

Several nuclear power stations, but also the coal-fired power station of Cordemais (Loire-Atlantique) or the thermal power station of Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône) were affected by this movement which had “no impact” for users but affected “the commercial exchanges” of energy, according to Fabrice Coudour, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT.

7:46 a.m. – Between 75 and 100% strikers in TotalEnergies refineries and depots

According to the CGT, the refineries of TotalEnergies account for at least 75% of strikers. The Normandy refinery has 75% of strikers, those of Feyzin (Rhône) and Donges (Loire-Atlantique) respectively 80 and 90% of strikers, a rate that is found at the biorefinery of La Mède (Bouches-du-Rhône) , and the fuel depot in Flanders (North) is on 100% strike, according to Eric Sellini, national union coordinator for TotalEnergies.

7:44 a.m. – The extent of the movement is “difficult to assess” among young people

“The subject of pensions only very rarely mobilizes young people because it is far too distant a horizon, it is very far from them,” says sociologist Paolo Stuppia from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

For his colleague Olivier Galland, research director at the CNRS, “it does not seem that the mobilization of young people is massive against this reform”. “Some of the young people even think that they will not have a pension”, according to him, adding that in France, there is “an extremely strong social pessimism”.

7:40 a.m. – When town halls mobilize against the reform

Paris, Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), Bonneuil-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), Lens (Pas-de-Calais), L’Union (Haute-Garonne), Entraigues-sur-la-Sorgue ( Vaucluse) or even Saint-Pierre-d’Aurillac (Gironde)… Several town halls are closing this Tuesday in protest against the pension reform. As these decisions may undermine the principle of neutrality of public services, they could be challenged in court.

» The information of the day before

> Macron says pension reform is “indispensable”

Pension reform is “essential when we compare ourselves in Europe” and to “save our system” by distribution, declared Emmanuel Macron on the eve of the second day of demonstrations and strikes at the call of the unions opposed to the postponement of starting age at 64.

Asked at a press conference in The Hague about the words of his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who declared this weekend that postponing the age was “no longer negotiable”, the head of state assured: “When she says something, she says it with good reasons and I support her. »

> The text examined by the Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee

President Emmanuel Macron’s flagship reform project arrived on the table of the Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee on Monday, the first stage of a parliamentary journey that promises to be stormy. Hectic and laborious, the discussions dragged on around the first article, on the gradual disappearance of several special pension schemes.

It is not uncommon to see, especially on the left, ecological debt and financial debt being opposed. The Court of Auditors obviously intends not to end up in this impasse and wants to invest in the field of ecological transition in the coming months.

“Our work program for 2023 will be placed under the sign of adaptation to environmental transition, with a view to the annual public report of 2024”, announced on Monday Pierre Moscovici, the first President of the Court, during the traditional hearing. back-to-school ceremony held in the presence of the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne.

Openness to citizens

The former European Commissioner says he wants to “work a lot more on public investments that contribute to this adaptation, that is to say taking into account the effects of global warming in the construction of public policies, and not only the policies of mitigation “.

The Court is a legitimate actor in his eyes “to quantify and analyze the needs in this area” for a challenge which “is going to be very costly”. “We have sometimes spoken of an environmental Court of Auditors, but it already exists! It is up to us to demonstrate this through the quality of our work,” he pleaded.

These announcements are part of Pierre Moscovici’s more global strategy since his arrival at the head of the high financial jurisdiction to open it up to the general public and “be in tune with the times”. It is in this context that he opened up the possibility for individuals to launch “citizens’ initiative checks” – the first reports commissioned after popular consultation will be unveiled this year, in particular concerning the State’s use of private advice or on public support for hunter federations – or create a platform for ‘whistleblowers’ on the use of public funds.

Parcel vision

In fact, this positioning on the quantified evaluation of the public resources allocated to the ecological transition responds to a real need. Until recently, the different data was split between different budget documents, without an overall vision. For the past three years, the government has published a “green budget” at the time of the presentation of the finance bill, but the data remains fragmented.

It took a recent report by the think-tank I4CE to have an initial assessment of Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise to increase investment in climate transition by 10 billion euros per year – the figure would only be 3.8 billion in the 2023 budget – lack of budget documents giving an overall figure.

If the Court of Auditors intends to make its voice heard on the ecological debt, it has not given up for all that to weigh in the debate on the financial debt. In front of the Prime Minister, Pierre Moscovici reiterated that “the situation of public finances was a subject of major concern” and indicated his willingness to participate in the major review of expenditure that the executive will launch in the coming weeks. On the other hand, he refrained from venturing into the field of pension reform, which is very politically sensitive.

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.

They don’t leave each other anymore. Once again, on Tuesday January 31, the leaders of the eight French unions will all be there, in the lead procession of the Parisian demonstration, with the aim of amplifying the first successful mobilization against the pension reform, on January 19.

No one would have bet on the formation of such a union unit a few months ago. Then the Cassandres announced a flash in the pan. But the collective holds. “Everyone is extremely careful not to damage the movement”, summarizes François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC.

First French union

The Laurent Berger plant is not the only craftsman, but it occupies a central place. “If the mobilization is at this level, it is also because it is in it”, notes François Hommeril. In 2019, against Emmanuel Macron’s attempt at systemic reform, supported by the CFDT, the mobilization had been much less strong.

But if the CFDT is also more visible than in 2010, when the legal retirement age was raised from 60 to 62, it is because it has gained weight in the inter-union. It has been more than four years since it earned its stripes as the first French union at the expense of the CGT until then, without concrete translation. It is already established that this conflict will have installed it at the center of the social landscape. One event symbolizes this: it was its general secretary, Laurent Berger, who read the joint declaration to the Labor Exchange on January 10 on behalf of everyone, and this speech did not cause debate between the organisations, including understood with the general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martinez.

Not the only spokesperson

The CFDT is not the only spokesperson for the movement, far from it. All the union leaders multiply the public expressions. But the battle crystallizes in the media in the confrontation between the executive and the central. Emmanuel Macron versus Laurent Berger.

Last example dated Saturday January 28th. In an interview with the “World”, published in the morning, Laurent Berger judged that it “needs one or two more demonstrations of force” for the government “to become aware of the powerful rejection that its text arouses”. Looking towards the street but also towards the passage to Parliament, which starts this Monday, Elisabeth Borne replied to him in the evening on Franceinfo that the postponement of the starting age to 64 years “is no longer negotiable”.

Anyone who would deduce a pyramidal vision of the inter-union would however be making a mistake. “We are all doing everything to make it go well,” explains Dominique Corona, in charge of pensions at Unsa. The engine of this dynamic can be found in the relationships of trust woven by Laurent Berger and Philippe Martinez, even when they were in open conflict.

“As long as they get along well, they will be able to anticipate small fractures,” said a member of the inter-union, referring to “leadership without hegemonic vision”. The dynamic was reinforced by the attitude of Force Ouvrière, which, with Yves Veyrier as with Frédéric Souillot, his successor elected in June, is convinced of the interest of the unitary approach and “knows how to put binders”.

The sensitive subject of modes of action

At the forefront of sensitive subjects, there is, however, that of the methods of action. Historically, the CFDT is attached to spaced mobilization days, with if possible a Saturday for the “second lines”, while at the CGT we advocate the blocking of the country and many are hostile to the “leapfrog” days. However, there was no confrontation on the subject in the inter-union.

Marie Buisson, whom Philippe Martinez wishes to see succeed him at the head of the CGT, explained why on France Inter, a few days ago: “Of course we need strikes, but it is not at the headquarters of the trade union organizations that [ça se décrète], it’s not so easy to lose a day’s wages. »

Step by step

The choice to move forward step by step without corseting the initiatives and the success of January 19 has reinforced the unions in this process. “We decide together what we do together… In the meantime, of course, everyone plays their part and no one is obliged to share it,” said Laurent Berger on Saturday.

He explained that at the CFDT “we think that the level of trade union efficiency is not measured by the level of concrete hassles for citizens”. For the moment, this subject is not one, the renewable strike is approached with extreme caution by the most angry unions, such as the CGT-petroleum or their fellow railway workers, who return its examination in ten days. As for energy cégétistes, instead of power cuts, they ultimately preferred to revive the Robin Hoods and reduce the bills of certain users.

France has fallen behind in its ecological transition objectives. The President of the Republic recognized this on Saturday, in a video posted on social networks. “Today, we are not there. And if we don’t change things, we won’t get there, ”said Emmanuel Macron, two days after having convened a first ecological planning council at the Elysée to take stock of the actions carried out in the area. matter.

Consequence: we will have to redouble our efforts to meet the objectives set by Brussels of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. “If we want to reach our 2030 target, we must go to 270 million tons of CO₂ issued”, launched Emmanuel Macron. ” [Cela] means that between now and 2030 we must reduce by 140 million tonnes […], which means that we simply have to double the rate of effort compared to what we have done in the last five years. »

Transport and agriculture

To respond to recurring criticism of the government’s inaction, the Head of State stressed that the efforts made over the past five years have been twice as sustained as before. Between 2017 and today, CO emissions₂ increased from 434 to 410 million tonnes per year, he said.

In his filmed intervention, Emmanuel Macron also returned to the contribution of each sector of activity to the transition effort. Regarding transport, the first concerned, he pleaded to continue the electrification of the fleet of private vehicles and praised the effectiveness of the conversion bonus and the ecological bonus. The government must work to intensify efforts to “produce (electric) vehicles on our entire soil”. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will have to announce in February measures on public transport infrastructure.

Another frontline sector is agriculture. “We must go much further, much stronger to reduce our emissions”, according to the Head of State. A plan, which will be articulated with a future law in favor of the installation of young farmers, will have to be finalized in June.

“It’s not a discovery, but now we’re getting into the hard part, we have to mobilize the right funding. It will take public money but it also takes private money, ”insisted the president.

Green reindustrialization

Bercy is hard at work. Since the end of 2022, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, has been talking with his German counterpart to find a response to the gigantic American climate subsidy plan (“IRA”). “Green reindustrialization” is Bercy’s priority for 2023: a bill will be presented in May, the minister said in an interview with “JDD” this Sunday.

Bruno Le Maire estimates that to succeed in the energy transition, “60 to 70 billion additional euros per year” are necessary. He calls on local authorities and private actors to participate in the financial effort, believing that “the State can carry part of it but not all of it” and that it must play the role of “lever for private investment”.

The hunt for expenses is also part of the equation, promises once again Bercy. In the crosshairs, the so-called “brown” expenses. “We cannot want to decarbonize our economy and maintain favorable tax advantages for fossil fuels”, pleads Bruno Le Maire. “Let us make our spending consistent with our political objectives. From the 2024 budget, we will thus be able to plan significant spending cuts. “The non-road diesel series, the end of the tax benefit has been postponed several times, however, shows that the game is not won in advance.

With finance, the tax administration and Booking.com have buried the hatchet, after years of legal proceedings. The hotel reservations platform indicated that it had agreed to pay 153 million euros to settle all of its disputes with the French authorities, confirming information from the “L’informé” site.

“We maintain that we are and have always been in good standing with French taxation, and we are satisfied to confirm that we have reached an amicable agreement with the French tax authorities covering a specific observation period from 2006 to 2018,” said the company. The two parties will still have to find an agreement for the period 2019-2021.

Part of the French income declared in the Netherlands

Booking.com was notably criticized for having declared in the Netherlands – which has more favorable taxation – a large part of its turnover made in France, which enabled it to reduce its tax, a technique often criticized for international digital groups. The company had long disputed, arguing that all reservations made in France via its subsidiary Booking BV were managed by its employees in the Netherlands, where its European headquarters are located. And that its French subsidiary was only intended to manage the call center in Tourcoing (North), which provides after-sales service for reservations.

While the French tax authorities initially claimed several hundred million euros, including 356 million for the period 2003-2012, or 70 million for 2013, the agreement reached puts an end to a legal battle. “At Booking.com, we strive to ensure that our activity is in accordance with the law of all the countries in which we operate”, justifies the company. While the tax administration protects itself against a possible unfavorable outcome.

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No hardening of the movement at this stage at the RATP. While at the SNCF, the proposal for a renewable strike is already on the table to roll back the government on its pension reform, the inter-union of the Parisian board, meeting on Wednesday morning, adopted a waiting position.

“We reaffirm today in unity our hostility to the pension reform wanted by the executive and demand its withdrawal”, hammered in a joint press release the CGT, Force Ouvrière, Unsa and CFE-CGC. For the rest, they have decided not to decide anything before the next day of interprofessional mobilization, next Tuesday.

Determined to “build a large-scale movement”, the four organizations called on “all the agents of the company to express their refusal against (this text) by participating in the strike and the demonstration of January 31”. A possible hardening of the mobilization will therefore wait until 1^er February, when the intersyndicale will meet again “to agree on the follow-up to be given”.

Fluctuating mobilization

The tone is – for the moment – less offensive than that employed Tuesday, within the SNCF, by the CGT Cheminots and SUD-Rail. In a joint press release, the two organizations, respectively first and third most representative within the company, first called for “two consecutive days of strike on February 7 and 8”. But they also and above all opened the door to a renewable movement from “mid-February”, for the start of the winter holidays in the Île-de-France region. A position not followed at this stage by the Unsa railway and the CFDT Cheminots, who do not want to plan anything beyond the mobilization of January 31.

So far, the scale of mobilization has been fluctuating. If it turned out to be massive during the interprofessional day of January 19 and promises to be so on Tuesday, the other initiatives launched in the meantime have collapsed. At the SNCF, the notice given for this Thursday was not followed.

A Castex effect at the RATP?

Within the RATP, the social climate is also much less explosive than a few weeks ago. Since his arrival at the head of the board at the end of November, Jean Castex has continued to give pledges of goodwill to the trade unions, which he had met in the wake of taking office.

The former Prime Minister thus obtained the remarkable signature of FO, the CGT and the Unsa at the end of the mandatory annual negotiations, with a salary increase of 105 euros net per month at the key for all the agents. . Discussions on extending the working hours of bus drivers in exchange for a bonus, to partly resolve the labor shortage, also found a favorable outcome in early January. The strike had also been little followed among bus drivers on January 19.

Finally Tuesday evening, during his vows, the former mayor of Prades did not fail to emphasize that it was “not to be taken lightly […] the concerns” of the employees on the outstanding subjects within the Régie, starting with the opening up to competition, calling on “all the stakeholders” to “provide rapid responses”, seeming to taunt, in hollow, the plans of an executive whose head he left in the spring. What again calm the tension in the company, and encourage part of the unions not to engage in a very hard conflict on pensions, as in 2019-2020.

The situation is changing for workers affected by Covid. Exceptional work stoppages, without a waiting day for people who test positive for the coronavirus, will no longer be possible from February 1, according to a decree published on Saturday in the Official Journal. This text “puts an end” to “the issuance of derogatory work stoppages to insured persons who are unable to continue to work, including remotely”.

Created at the start of the health crisis in 2020 “in order to limit the spread of the epidemic”, this system had been extended several times, most recently by the Social Security budget for 2023, which however provided for the end of this measure “ at the latest” at the end of the year.

Less than 16,000 hospitalized patients

The government has therefore decided to bring forward the deadline, while the health situation has improved markedly since the beginning of the year, with less than 16,000 patients currently hospitalized, against nearly 25,000 at the end of December. The number of contaminations has also dropped in one month, from more than 20,000 to less than 5,000 per day on average, according to the Covid Tracker site.

In the event of a positive Covid test, positive people must always isolate themselves for a period of 7 days (vaccinated people) to 10 days (non-vaccinated people). Isolation can be lifted after 5 or 7 days depending on the vaccination status, if the person has not had any symptoms for 48 hours and tests negative.

What keys to adapt in a complex environment?

How to react to the challenges of the energy transition? How to position yourself in an unstable economic and political environment? How can the innovation opportunities in each sector be best exploited? On a daily basis, through our decryptions, surveys, chronicles, international press reviews and editorials, we support our subscribers by giving them the keys to adapting to a complex environment.

I discover the offers