The government of Michel Barnier, appointed on September 21, 2024, must face its first major social movement on Tuesday October 1.
The CGT, Solidaires and FSU unions have launched, along with youth organizations, a call for mobilization and a strike. Their demands relate in particular to the repeal of the pension reform, but not only.
The repeal of the pension reform, a cornerstone of the mobilization
Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, presented this mobilization with a simple formula: “This is the return match against pension reform.“. This had pushed back the retirement age to 64, compared to 62 previously.
The unions and a large part of civil society were opposed to it. At the peak of the mobilizations, on March 7, 1.28 million people were in the streets according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, including nearly 150,000 in Brittany. A mobilization which ran out of steam following the promulgation of the law on April 14, 2023.
This October 1 mobilization is an opportunity to put pressure on the Barnier government. The Prime Minister said he was ready to “improve“the reform and the unions involved hope to force it to repeal it.
Raise wages and defend public services
The second major demand from the unions concerns wages, in the face of soaring inflation and a loss of purchasing power. The unions are demanding it in several ways: an increase in the minimum wage, a more general increase in salaries and an increase in the index point for civil servants. Real gender equality is also required.
The defense of public services is also at the center of the mobilization. Unions are calling for investment in the most important sectors, notably schools and hospitals.
In Brittany, these subjects are mobilizing. In Carhaix, in Finistère, demonstrations have taken place regularly since the end of 2023 to defend the town’s hospital. The mayors of Côtes-d’Armor having issued decrees to require the State to act in the health sector are another example.
The appointment of the government as another sticking point
Appointed on September 21, 2024, the government of Michel Barnier is another point of contestation for a number of unions, who see it as a government both contrary to the results of the election, but also dedicated to a policy of economic rigor.
This is particularly what denounces Matthieu Nicol, general secretary of the CGT of Côtes-d’Armor, who declared on our antenna “We are still promised an austerity cure, which will be superimposed on that which we have already known for several years.” For him, mobilization must lead to “that this government does not do what it was appointed for by its Prime Minister, that is to say, destroy our public service, our social protection, our industry and then our desire to live on our salary and our pensions.”
A mobilization which, in Brittany, extended to the departmental sections of the Force Ouvrière union, where the national leadership refused to act before Michel Barnier’s general policy speech, which took place the same day at 3 p.m. As well as other organizations such as the Peasant Confederation or the Pirate Union.
The repeal of the pension reform will be debated in the National Assembly in the coming months, first during the parliamentary niche of the RN on October 31, 2024, then during that of La France Insoumise on November 28, 2024.