While numerous social movements are announced in France, several strikes are to be feared between now and the end of year holidays. In recent days, the country has faced an increase in calls for mobilization. CNEWS takes stock.
The next few weeks under the sign of the strike in France? Agriculture, health, transport, in recent days, different unions have been increasing calls for mobilization for the months of November and December.
Rail transport
The SNCF unions plan to gather on Wednesday November 20 from 7 p.m. to Friday November 22 at 8 a.m. In a press release, the CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and the CFDT-Cheminots warned that this first strike is an “ultimatum” before a “longer and stronger strike movement in December”, if their demands are not heard by the government and the SNCF.
An indefinite strike notice has already been filed from Wednesday, December 11, 7 p.m. (renewable for 24-hour periods). TGV users fear the social movement which disrupts the service during the Christmas holidays.
The company's employees are demanding a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF, the division dedicated to rail freight, and are protesting against the terms of opening regional lines to competition.
L’agriculture
Less than a year after a movement which partly paralyzed the main roads in France, anger has not subsided in the sector. Added to this are poor wheat harvests and a renewed health crisis on livestock farms. A cocktail which pushed those involved in the profession to mobilize “from this Monday” November 18 in “all departments” according to the boss of the FNSEA union, Arnaud Rousseau. Farmers blocked part of the N118 in Yvelines on Sunday, November 17.
For its part, Rural Coordination has planned an “agricultural revolt” from November 19 by meeting its members in front of the prefectures. The organization added that without reaction from the State, it would organize blockages of “French food freight” from November 20 to “give the government a taste of what our country will be like, tomorrow, without farmers”.
Their demands? Unions oppose the signing of a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Europe. Indeed, the latter could have significant consequences for French agriculture, in particular for cattle breeders. “If this agreement were to be signed, it would be an enormous flood of beef, poultry, sugar or ethanol without any protection or control of standards,” declared the spokesperson for the Peasant Confederation, Laurence Marandola.
Early childhood
The CGT and the “no babies in the locker” collective, which brings together around fifty trade union organizations, are calling on early childhood professionals to go on strike on Tuesday, November 19 to denounce the lack of staff and the deterioration of working conditions. welcome.
A demonstration will start at 10 a.m. from the Place des Droits de l'Enfant in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.
The public service
Seven public service unions, including the CGT, the CFDT and the UNSA, have called for a national strike on December 5, following the government's announcements of savings in the civil service to the tune of 1.2 billion euros in the 2025 budget.
The eighth public service union, Force Ouvrière, is calling on it to stop work from December 11 to 13, “at the same time as the railway workers' strike”, UIAFP-FO general secretary Christian told AFP. Grolier.
Thursday, November 14, the entourage of the Minister of the Civil Service, Guillaume Kasbarian, announced that the latter “took note of the unions’ decision and reaffirmed its openness to dialogue.”
The objective of a strike would be to demand the abandonment of the reduction from 100% to 90% of sick leave compensation for civil servants or the establishment of three unpaid waiting days, instead of the current one. , during these absences – excluding serious pathologies.
Laboratories
Four unions representing medical biologists also called last week for Health Insurance to reopen negotiations on its rates, recently revised downwards, by threatening a closure of medical analysis laboratories from December 23 to 31 inclusive if no response was given to them before.
