In the streets, three days before the first round of the early legislative elections, there is no question of releasing the pressure. This Thursday, June 27 in the morning, in front of the Prefecture of Marseille, Place Félix-Barret, around a hundred people responded to the call from several unions, including the CGT, to demonstrate against the reform of unemployment insurance, which is highly contested in LEFT.
This reform, decided by the executive, plans, among other things, to tighten the eligibility conditions for unemployment insurance and to reduce the duration of compensation for beneficiaries. “Workers, and particularly those from the working classes, are in danger with Emmanuel Macron’s project“, adds Jessica Jadé, who believes that “government policy has opened the door to the far right” and “program of the National Rally is only its continuity“.
“Flattering an angry electorate”
Before the vote this Sunday, the trade union organisations are calling for an increase in protest movements and strikes in all sectors of activity.We must show that many of us want another social project“, notes Christelle Coutelan, CGT unionist for the CAF of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Since this small gathering on the Place de la Préfecture, she wants to believe “in the hope that the New Popular Front carries“, which proposes to repeal the reform of unemployment insurance and pensions, for the world of work. During the last European elections and previous ballots, the vote for the National Rally increased in all social classes, and the However, the share of voters for the RN from working-class backgrounds has continued to increase.
“There should be no mistake about anger, the far-right project is not anti-system and does not propose changes to improve either living or working conditions.“, pleads Jessica Jadé of the UD CGT13. “It is the very characteristic of the far right to flatter an angry electorate even though all the RN votes in the National Assembly show that they are the enemies of the poorest“, also reacts Avelino Carvalho, 65-year-old retiree, pointing in particular to the vote against the increase in the minimum wage by the deputies of Jordan Bardella’s party.
In the middle of the campaign, the New Popular Front candidate invested by La France insoumise in the 5th constituency (4th arrondissement and part of the 5th and 6th), Allan Popelard, who came to support the demonstrators, calls for “pick up the abstainers“. In a survey by Ipsos-Jean-Jaurès Foundation-Cevipof-Montaigne Institute for the newspaper Le World published this Thursday, the National Rally and its allies are still at the head of voting intentions with 36%, ahead of the left of the New Popular Front which would gather 29% of the votes, the Macronist camp 19.5% and LR with 8%.
