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? Aeronautics, health, transport, in recent days, different unions have been increasing calls for mobilization for the months of November and December.
Air transport
Several organizations representing employees in the airline sector, including the powerful National Union of Line Pilots (SNPL) – UNSA transport, UNSA PNC, CFE-CGC FNEMA, UNAC, SNPNC-FO and FEETS-FO – have called on their members to mobilize this Thursday, November 14 to protest against the government plan to increase air transport taxation by one billion euros in the finance bill for 2025.
“This project is an unprecedented attack on the airline sector in France, its jobs, its competitiveness and its sustainability,” denounced the latter. This action comes after deputies approved this amendment on Friday, then rejected by the National Assembly with the rest of the “revenue” part of the finance bill. The government now turns to the Senate.
Last Sunday, Transport Minister François Durovray defended this project to the micron of FranceInfo. “This tax has both the virtue of contributing to the restoration of State accounts, but also an environmental aim” due to carbon emissions from aviation, he assured.
According to forecasts from the main French airlines, few disruptions to their flight schedules are expected. “We should be able to transport all customers,” announced the deputy general director and general secretary of Air France-KLM, Alexandre Boissy, during a press conference of the National Federation of Aviation and its Professions (Fnam), in unison with managers from Air Caraibes, French Bee and Corsair.
Rail transport
The SNCF unions also plan to gather on Wednesday November 20 from 7 p.m. to Friday November 22 at 8 a.m. To this was added a notice of indefinite strike from Wednesday December 11 at 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.
“The dialogue must succeed” between the leaders of the SNCF and the unions of the public company, judged Sunday the Minister of Transport, François Durovray. “Everyone is responsible”, “we cannot imagine that at the moment when France must move forward, it will be blocked and that at the moment when the French want to find themselves, they will not be able to do so”, said he added, still on FranceInfo.
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 Monday” November 18 in “all departments” according to the boss of the FNSEA union, Arnaud Rousseau.
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 Laurence Marandola. However, France's third agricultural union did not call for joining the mobilization launched by its counterparts.
The public service
The two main unions in the sector, FO and the CGT, called last Thursday for a “strike” at the beginning of December after an unsuccessful meeting with Minister Guillaume Kasbarian, after the government's announcements of savings on the Civil Service to the tune of 1 .2 billion euros in the 2025 budget.
However, after a new consultation between the eight trade union organizations representing the sector, the contours of mobilization have failed to emerge. A new meeting is planned for this Thursday, November 14 at the end of the morning.
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.
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