Review of the various sectors which on Tuesday 31 January re-launched the inter-union appeal for a new strike movement.
Will January 31 be as popular as January 19? After the first day of mobilization last Thursday, the inter-union – which brings together the CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, UNSA, Solidaires and FSU – wants a new coup to push the government to abandon its plan pension reform.
While with more than a million demonstrators in the square, “January 19” was a success for the opponents of the project, the call for the following day of mobilization was heard by a number of trade union federations.
But in a tense context for purchasing power, some of them prefer to stall, feel the employees before launching a call for a strike that could be less popular than that of January 19th.
Overview of the mobilizations planned for 31 January.
In the train
Starting with transportation. Meeting on January 20, the SNCF unions have already announced that they will join “on confederation dates with all employees”. Strikes could happen even earlier in the railway sector as CGT-Cheminots has filed a notice “running from Wednesday 25 January 2023 at 7pm to Thursday 2 February 2023 at 8am”.
In a joint press release, CGT-Cheminots and SUD Rail confirmed their call for a strong mobilization next Tuesday. The two unions have also indicated two ways forward for after January 31, namely two consecutive days of strike on February 7 and 8 or a renewable strike from mid-February.
In the Parisian transport
No calls for the moment from the RATP unions for a January 31st mobilisation. Representatives take employees’ pulse to judge the relevance of that call.
“All we can say is that we feel the anger, indicates a union source FO al Parisian. And if we go on an indefinite strike, it could be complicated for the government. It will be up to the employees to decide.
At airports
Even in the air, the call was heard. The unions at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport have agreed to go on strike for January 31st.
“We are 100,000 employees at the airport. If you block the airport, you block the economy”, he assures on RMC Loris Foreman, CGT delegate in a subcontracting company in Roissy.
But mobilization promises to be difficult by the unions’ own admission in this context of inflation where every day of strike penalizes purchasing power.
In ski resorts
A few days before the departures for the ski holidays (February 4 for zone A), it is the localities that are feeling the effects of the mobilisation. The two main unions of ski lift workers, Force Ouvrière (FO) and CGT, have indeed presented strike notices for January 31st. A movement that should not continue beyond next Tuesday.
“The ski lifts will operate normally from the next day [1er février .NDR]: We don’t want to undermine already struggling companies further,” Eric Becker, FO secretary general for ski lifts and seasonal workers, told AFP.
At school
In National Education, the unions are also calling for mobilization on January 31st. The SNALC (National Union of Education Professionals) has responded favorably to the strike call and SUD Education even proposes the renewal of the strike after 31 January. But this is a minority union.
In the other sectors of the public service, the inter-union appeal did not give rise to a specific slogan.
in energy
No united front for the moment in the sector. At the refineries, CGT-Petrole has scheduled strikes for January 26 and 27 and February 6. But the union does not rule out joining the movement next Tuesday.
“We will see if we adhere to the announced dates or if we keep ours”, indicated Lionel Abiol, CGT union representative of the Fos-sur-Mer refinery this Friday to Sud Radio.
It should also be noted that the CGT Mines-Énergies threatens targeted power outages of an hour or two by the January 31 date.
