PENSION REFORM

TOWARDS A HARDENING OF ACTIONS ?

Place de Concorde tensions

Thursday, a similar gathering had degenerated during the evening. While nearly 6,500 people gathered this Thursday, March 16, 2023 Place de la Concorde to show their opposition to the appeal of 49.3 to pass the pension reform in the Assembly.

The gathering had degenerated in the early evening when the police decided to evacuate the Parisian square. Clashes then broke out and many fires (garbage cans or vehicles) were lit, before the situation stabilized overnight.

In the end, 258 people were arrested in the capital during these overflows. Similar scenes had been observed in other cities of the country, leading to dozens of additional arrests.

The strategy favored by the unions for several years, namely peaceful demonstrations, based on “numbers”, despite past successes, is not enough – for the moment – ​​to settle the social disagreement on the pension reform.

Harden the movement ?

The unions have hesitated for a long time in recent weeks between continuing to demonstrate or going on strike. Some said they were in favor of this "hardening" from the start, in particular federations of the CGT - railway workers, energy, chemists (including refiners)... - but also the Union Syndicale Solidaires (which brings together the SUD unions), known for its radicalism and an “old-fashioned” type of trade unionism, based on militancy and, often, open conflict.

But what does the word “hardening” mean? It is meant to illustrate a gradation in collective action.

This will no longer consist only of peaceful and intermittent parades.

These will be more determined, even more violent and continuous actions. The objective is to cause disorder in the economy or in social or daily life to make a deaf government give in to street demonstrations alone.

Towards new forms of action ?

Not all unions are in favor of such a development. But no one excludes them anymore. Even the CFDT, which has patiently sculpted its reformist identity for years, does not reject it, at least antiphrasally.

Thus, its leader, Laurent Berger, alluding to the "yellow vests", was surprised recently that the "very violent" (and minority) forms of action had won their case while the demands made by peaceful demonstrations, although more numerous, leave the public authorities indifferent.

How to switch to these new forms of action? Strike of one day, even renewable… In certain sectors, like the garbage collectors of Paris, it is what took shape this week. The threat of "blockades" concerning the supply of fuel is also being waved by some activists.

But will this type of action succeed in settling down over time and carrying weight? We saw last fall that the government was not without legal means, for example by relying on requisitions.

"General strike"

A "general strike" could also be looming even if it has not yet been announced as such. The inter-union prefers the euphemism of "shutdown of all sectors".

Such a strike also seems hypothetical. Those that succeeded – to allude to the Popular Front or May 1968 – were not decreed by the trade union confederations. And the private sector, in particular, does not seem ready for such an eventuality, especially since the direct responsibility of companies is not in question in the reform. As a recent survey by the Ministry of Labor has just pointed out, the rate of unionization in the private sector continues to decline. Consequently, for the trade union organisations, instigating and supervising such a movement seems difficult. The unions are implicitly paying for their estrangement from many grassroots workers, especially the youngest, even if their recent successes in the streets show that they are alive and well.

The “hardening” could also come from a stronger involvement of student organizations. Present in the inter-union, the latter are still little involved and the universities, with some exceptions, do not experience any disturbances.

'Revolt of the sub-prefectures'

The trade union confederations, like Laurent Berger, also insist a lot on what would be a “revolt of the sub-prefectures”. In short, the movement would be particularly active in small towns.

A quick look reveals that the situation is mixed. This increase in demonstrators in certain cities is explained, it seems, by the local importance of public employment. This gives these populations higher than average unionization rates.

Thus, this “revolt of the sub-prefectures” would first reveal the strengths and weaknesses of unionization. But the unions see it above all as examples to follow, the translation of a deep anger in the social fabric.

And yet the executive remains deaf to the rumbling social anger. And says he does not want to give up his pension reform. Today, although a very large part of the public has declared itself unfavorable to the reform, the executive does not intend to give in.

“We cannot play with the future of the country”, would have hammered the head of state Thursday, March 16 in the morning.

The executive chose to force through by resorting to 49.3.

The stakes are as numerous as they are considerable, both internally and internationally. The capacity of France to undertake, after the famous whatever the cost, a recovery of its public expenditure without digging more debt, can only reassure its European political partners. And this is an important issue in this period of rising interest rates.

Beyond the question of pensions, Emmanuel Macron is putting into play his ability to assert his legitimacy in the face of opposition in multiple forms. This is a major test.

Giving in to the streets now could cause Emmanuel Macron to lose all authority for the rest of the five-year term and that is what he fears... in a pre-insurgency atmosphere.