French nationwide strike and protest day for wages, Digi Mart USA News: Will Thursday’s interprofessional day of strikes and demonstrations over wages bring the country to a standstill? Unions, joined by young people and yellow vest protesters, are calling on public and private sector workers to take part.
Here is an overview of the main expected impacts.
The Ministry of National Education estimates the strike rate on Thursday at 17.54% in public primary schools. While it considers it “difficult to set a national average” as of Wednesday, the Snuipp-FSU, the leading primary school union, expects strong participation Thursday, with “one teacher in two on strike in Oise, 40% in Eure-et-Loir and between 50 and 70% in Ille-et-Vilaine.” The union adds that forecasts in Seine-Saint-Denis reach up to 75% in some sectors, while in Paris it has already counted nearly 80 closed schools.
Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the Snes-FSU, the leading union for middle and high schools, said the strike should be “well followed” in secondary education. Private education unions have also called for a strike.
According to the main union, the Fep-CFDT, “the indicators seem to show that the mobilization will be more widely followed on the private side than the previous one,” citing a social and political context that is conducive to the movement.
School canteens are expected to be affected, and in Strasbourg they will be closed.
All four representative unions at the SNCF national rail operator (CGT, Unsa ferroviaire, Sud Rail and CFDT) have jointly called for a strike. Management expects traffic to be “disrupted” on most regional and Île-de-France lines and “slightly disrupted” for TGV high-speed trains.
The RATP Paris transport operator, meanwhile, expects “normal” service on its metros, buses and trams, except on RER B, where one train in two will run in the north and two in three in the south.
At sea, CGT dockworkers will strike in all French ports. They set the tone on Friday with a 24-hour strike that blocked all ports.
Strike notices for air traffic controllers (DGAC civil servants) have been filed by the CGT (USACcgt), FO (FEETS-FO), SUD Aérien and Unsa Aérien. Recommendations for reduced traffic sent to airlines, detailed by airport, were expected to be known Wednesday evening.
Yellow vest protesters also plan actions on certain roads, roundabouts and motorways, though their scale is hard to anticipate. In Strasbourg, a blockade is planned on the A35 from 8:00 a.m.
In Isère, the Confédération paysanne farmers’ union is to organize a filtering roadblock at Voreppe, near a toll booth on the A48.
At public hospitals in Paris (AP-HP), FO and the CGT have called for a strike to demand withdrawal of budget cuts planned in the State and Social Security budget proposals.
Both organizations also call for general assemblies in services and facilities to draw up “service-by-service lists of demands,” as AP-HP staff say they “can no longer take it” given the deterioration of their working conditions.
Several postal unions (CFDT, CGT FAPT, Sud PTT, FO) have called for a strike. The CGT, the second-largest union, has even filed an unlimited strike notice starting November 5.
