A national strike, launched by the CGT, is organised this Tuesday 5th February, throughout France. While it is difficult for the moment to estimate the extent of the mobilization, yellow vests should join the movement. The strike will have an impact on the public service and in particular the schools and canteens, the RATP, the SNCF …
A national strike will affect France , this Tuesday 5th February 5, at the call of the CGT. This is the first trade union mobilisation in 2019 when the yellow vests movement has just experienced its 12th Saturday of demonstration last weekend.
This Tuesday, there are many unknowns: what mobilisation, what demands, what about yellow vests? We take stock.
How many people mobilised?
This is the big question on this eve of a national strike day. Between the strikers who will not protest, those who will join a demonstration, difficult to estimate the scale of the mobilisation of this Tuesday, February 5. At the call of the CGT, they should be more numerous than the 58,600 demonstrators of the twelfth Saturday of Mobilisation yellow jackets . But how much?
In December, the three demonstrations of the CGT went almost unnoticed. During the previous mobilisation, December 14th, the CGT had counted 15,000 demonstrators in Paris, the prefecture of police with 6 000. No figures at the national level had been reported.
According to Stéphane Sirot, a historian specialising in social conflicts interviewed in the Journal du dimanche , “about 200,000 people” could still be mobilised this Tuesday. On its website, the CGT lists a hundred points of mobilisation. In Ille-et-Vilaine, gatherings are planned in Rennes, Saint-Malo, Redon and Fougères. But it could also happen that the mobilisation makes a flop.
Who in the movement?
The CGT is therefore at the initiative of this day of mobilisation and FO and the CFDT have refused to join. Solidarity, the NPA, the PCF or France Insoumise, they will take part well. Which should bring a little more weight to the French trade union.
And the yellow vests in all this? They should also be part of this mobilization. At least a part. Éric Drouet, figure of the movement, called for a “general strike” . A call that divides among the Yellow Vests. Because if some continue to mobilize, every Saturday is because there is no loss of wages and no impact on the employer. A Tuesday is not the same story.
Others refuse to associate with a union. The yellow jackets have also jostled the usual codes and crystallized anger without being worn by the unions. The convergence of struggles is not so clear as that.
What claims?
If at previous demonstrations, Emmanuel Macron ‘s “liberal” policy was the main target, this time the critics focus on employers. “In a country where the 40 largest companies pay 57.4 billion euros to their shareholders, we must not just knock on the door of the government,” insisted Philippe Martinez in Politis , calling for the removal of public aid to companies (CICE, exemptions).
It is for this reason that in Rennes, for example, a mobilisation is planned in front of the premises of the Medef. Rising wages and pensions and tax reform are also part of the demands.
Chance calendar, Tuesday must be passed the law “anticasseurs” , giving the opportunity to the prefects to pronounce prohibitions to demonstrate , a device strongly criticized by the unions.
The public service, the SNCF … mobilised
Strike notices have been filed with SNCF and will last from Monday, February 4 at 8 pm to Wednesday 6th February at 7.55 am. The details of the disturbances are available here . The public service will also be affected. Disturbances are to be expected in schools, colleges and high schools . Sud Education, Snipp Fsu and Snes FSU have called for mobilisation.
Classes could be closed, the reception of the morning and the evening not assured and the canteen closed. In Rennes, for example, half of the canteens will be affected by the movement.
Le 5 Février 2019, face à l’urgence sociale, j’agis !
https://t.co/sphMw44WNC pic.twitter.com/SrgBx3j2ma— CGT Cheminots (@cgtcheminots) 23 January 2019
Les personnels de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche ont toutes les raisons de manifester le 5 février#greve5fevrier #ESR #5fevrier https://t.co/rGw7vm8Qft
— SUD éducation (@SUD_education) 4 February 2019
In Paris, “visitor access could be disrupted,” warned the Eiffel Tower.
High school students could also follow the movement and return to the street. They had already mobilised in early December, for nearly two weeks , to protest against the reform of high school and Parcoursup . The National Union of High School Students (UNL) and the independent and democratic high school federation (FIDL) again appealed “to say no to the destruction of education” .
[COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE] L’@UNL_SD et la @FIDL_Officiel appellent les lycéen-ne-s à soutenir et à participer à la grève générale le 5 février pour dire non à la destruction de l’Education ! #GrèveGénérale pic.twitter.com/Q3DizAeoZi
— UNL-SD (@UNL_SD) 28 January 2019
