In the public as in the private sector, several social conflicts are brewing while the economic situation becomes tense and the government seeks to make savings – or to raise new revenues – to reduce the deficit.
The drastic savings that the government is seeking to make to reduce the deficit – which will reach 6.1% of GDP in 2024 – and the additional taxes that could be introduced in the 2025 budget are causing discontent among several trade union organizations, among civil servants and in the private. Reorganizations like at the SNCF or even massive social plans also fuel the anger of the unions, who are calling for several days of mobilization this fall. Le Figaro takes stock of these simmering social conflicts.
The airline sector angry at taxes
The National Union of Line Pilots (SNPL) called for mobilization on Thursday, November 14, against the current discussions on the 2025 budget, which threatens to hit the airlines' wallets. The union particularly protests against the wish of Michel Barnier's team to tax the aviation sector, via an amendment providing for an increase in the solidarity tax on plane tickets. “This amendment provides, in essence, for a 3-fold increase in this tax, without a consultation of stakeholders in the sector having taken place, nor the carrying out of an impact study to analyze the economic and social consequences. of this measure”annoys the SNPL.
SNCF against opening to competition
All SNCF unions have called for a 24-hour strike on Thursday, November 21. The railway workers not only denounce “the liquidation of Fret SNCF” – split into two entities after proceedings brought by the European Commission for illegal public aid – but also “privatization in TER, Transilien and Intercités activities” as well as “the breakup of SNCF Réseau” under the effect of opening to competition. In mid-December, the first SNCF Voyageurs railway workers will be transferred to SNCF subsidiaries, created to respond to TER calls for tenders launched by the regions. In a press release entitled “the time has come for conflict at the SNCF”the CGT-Cheminots, the Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots warn that this strike day is “an ultimatum” avant “a longer and stronger strike movement in December” if the government and the SNCF do not respond to their demands.
Farmers ready to “take action again”
The majority agricultural union alliance formed by the FNSEA and the Young Farmers, which organized large-scale demonstrations in France last winter, called for “a resumption of shares from November 15”. The president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, described “scarlet line” the possibility of a trade agreement between the European Commission and Mercosur, which could be on the table at the G20 summit which begins on November 18.
Actions by farmers were noted at the beginning of November in Occitania, where the protest movement started last winter. Some 200 farmers placed road signs in front of the Ariège prefecture on Monday evening, while around sixty farmers dumped sheep's wool, bales of hay and straw during the night from Friday to Saturday. in front of several state buildings in Auch, in Gers.
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Civil servants promise “three days of strike”
Several trade union organizations called a strike after a tense meeting on Thursday, November 7 at the Ministry of Civil Service. Civil servants will have to contribute 1.2 billion euros in savings to help reduce the public deficit. Two measures are crystallizing the anger: the reduction from 100% to 90% of compensation for sick leave for civil servants, and the introduction of three unpaid waiting days, instead of one currently, during these absences – excluding pathologies heavy.
“Three days of waiting time, three days of strike”notably launched Christian Grolier, general secretary of the UIAFP-FO who wants to work with the inter-union “as wide as possible”. The announcement by Minister Guillaume Kasbarian of the abandonment of the abolition of categories of civil servants was not enough to ease the pressure, and the freezing of the index point as well as the suspension of the inflation bonus for 2024 should not not help calm the situation. This question should appear on the agenda of a new meeting of the inter-union scheduled for Tuesday.
A day of “convergence of struggles for employment”
The general secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet called for a “day of convergence of all struggles for employment” on December 12. She assures that her union has identified “more than 180 layoff plans throughout France which concern more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, mainly in industry”. A number “at a minimum since the list grows every day”. This fall, Auchan notably announced a major social plan, threatening more than 2,300 employees, and Michelin announced the closure of two factories, eliminating more than 1,200 jobs.
Medical biologists threaten a “shutdown”
Four unions representing medical biologists (SDBIO, BiOMED, SNMB, SLBC) have called on Health Insurance to reopen negotiations on their rates, recently revised downwards, otherwise threatening a «shutdown»i.e. the closure of medical analysis laboratories from December 23 to 31 inclusive. Biologists criticize the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) for having “betrayed” a three-year conventional agreement (2024-2026) signed in June 2023, and to have decided during the summer, “without prior consultation”to reduce the prices of procedures, starting in September.
This conflict results from a significantly higher demand for biological analyzes than expected in the first months of 2024 (+5.5% in volume). Cnam intends to maintain the budget envelope planned for the year (3.784 billion excluding Covid and certain specific expenses in 2024), which involved reducing certain prices. She says she simply wants “respect the terms” of the agreement, which sets annual envelopes. For their part, biologists assure that these price reductions endanger the network of laboratories, particularly small local sites, while “production costs are increasing”.
