Demonstrations “for employment and industry” were held this Thursday in several cities in France, in a context marked by the explosion of social plans.
12,000 demonstrators according to the authorities
But the processions in France did not attract the crowds of big days: 12,000 people took part in the 96 actions carried out on Thursday, according to the authorities' report. There were 1,400 in Nantes, 520 in Rennes, 460 in Le Mans and 350 in Lyon, for example. In Paris, the procession which dispersed without incident, gathered 1,400 participants at its peak, according to the same sources.
“Social emergencies all over the country”
The rallies, launched by the CGT, joined by Solidaires and FSU, were initiated while the announcements of social plans follow one another in large companies (Auchan, Michelin, Vencorex, PPG, etc.), among subcontractors and small structures, targeting numerous sectors (metallurgy, commerce, public and associative sectors, banks and insurance, chemicals, etc.) almost everywhere in France.
On November 27, the CGT counted 286 social plans. It now lists 300, while taking data from the Altares firm which counts 300,000 jobs threatened or eliminated.
“There are social emergencies everywhere in the country,” lamented Sophie Binet, from the Fonderies de Bretagne factory in Lorient (Morbihan) where “400 jobs are at stake”. The leader, who once again denounces “this industrial bloodletting”, implored the appointment of “a Prime Minister who responds to social emergencies”, while the name of a new tenant in Matignon has now been announced for Friday morning.
The call for a strike little heard by employees
In addition to the hundred mobilizations that it initiated in nearly 80 departments, the Montreuil headquarters encouraged, from the end of November, “employees to go on strike and occupy their factories to prevent layoffs”. But the call seems to have been little heard by the employees. “It's complicated to mobilize when you know that you don't have people to talk to,” says a union source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
