The only certainty is that the ranks of the two parades from Reunion Island to Saint-Denis and Saint-Pierre, responding this Tuesday to the call for a national strike on the day of the general policy declaration of the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier, were much less numerous than during the major mobilizations of 2023 against pension reform. The unions counted 2,000 demonstrators, the police, 600. The absence of the CFDT, the CTFC and the Unsa of the Réunion inter-union explains these lower figures.
Boss of the CGT Réunion (CGTR), widely represented in the Saint-Denis procession, Jacky Balmine nevertheless wants to see a movement “which is building towards a general strike”. With the main demands: the repeal of the pension reform, the increase in wages and social minimums, the defense of public service and the fight against the high cost of living in a department where the unemployment rate is at 17% and where more a third of the population (885,700 inhabitants in January 2024) lives below the poverty line.
Read also: In Reunion, “anger is brewing” over the high cost of living and unions are calling for mobilization
“Excessive prices, it’s time for it to stop”
“Things are moving in the West Indies, things have to be moving here too, advocates Marie-Hélène Dor, departmental secretary of the FSU teachers’ union. The abusive prices of supermarkets, it is time for this to stop. »
“Families where both parents work can no longer do it. It’s permanent theft, also denounces Jacky Balmine. Without mobilization, there will be nothing. » In the north of the island, the inter-union received the support of several left-wing elected officials from Reunion Island, including Huguette Bello, president of the regional council, Ericka Bareigts, mayor of Saint-Denis.
In the Dionysian procession, François, 61, employed at the Saint-Paul water authority, came to say no to pension reform, but also because “Life is getting more and more expensive.” The kilo of tomato, essential for making a carry, “is never less than two euros, he angrily. The price of medicines, EDF bills, everything is increasing. My wife and I both work. I wonder what the poorest people do. »
“Denial of democracy”
Activist at the CGT Santé, Zohra Givran, 57 years old, nursing assistant in the Ouest Réunion hospital center (CHOR) hears above all “defend public service when hospitals respond more to corporate accounting logic. When a patient calls for a nurse, she doesn’t come right away. It’s normal, she has to take care of fifteen patients,” illustrates the fifty-year-old. Castigating a “lack of human resources and recognition of the arduousness of his work or night hours”.
At the head of the parade, with the purple flag of the Student Union 974 in his hands, Valentin Lapeyronie warns of respect for student rights and the high cost of living. The 20-year-old young man explains that he has to get by every month with €600, half of which goes towards his rent: “We must therefore measure each expense. » The social sciences student also says he is upset by the appointment of the Minister of Higher Education, Patrick Hetzel, who is “ anti-feminist, anti-marriage for all and for the selection of students.”
Justice official, Pierre, 59 years old, speaks of “ denial of democracy to qualify the new government and legislative elections at the end of which “ the losers are the winners. Now the only solution is to take to the streets,” supports the peaceful-looking fifty-year-old. Our vote was not taken into account and a personality like Mr. Retailleau is appointed to the Interior with rhetoric almost identical to that of the far right. »
“We no longer want to be poor”
“We have nothing to expect from this government,” launched at the end of the demonstration, Jean-Paul Paquiry, deputy secretary of the FO departmental union of Reunion Island, criticizing the reduction in the budget of credits of the Minister of Overseas but also “fewer teachers, fewer caregivers and less tax justice”.
“We no longer want to be poor,” concluded the leader of FO by promising “other meetings to continue the fight”. Meeting in the afternoon, the Réunion inter-union ensures “stay on deck”. Hoping for more mobilization on the island and nationally, it has given up, for the moment, launching its general strike call.
