After last year’s sacred union against pension reform, the unions are returning to their habits: the May 1 demonstrations will be held this Wednesday, without broad unity with scattered slogans, “against austerity », for peace or even a “more protective” Europe.
In 2023, the eight main unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU) marched together, something unheard of for almost fifteen years. The mobilization, in the form of the 13th inter-union day against pension reform, had gone well beyond a classic May 1st. The police counted nearly 800,000 demonstrators (compared to some 116,000 in 2022) and the CGT 2.3 million (compared to 210,000 in 2022). The day was marked by sometimes violent clashes in several cities in France, mainly in Paris, Nantes and Lyon.
A “very relative craze”
This participation score looks impossible to beat this year, especially since the unions have various slogans for this International Workers’ Day.
At the National level, “less than 150,000 people” are expected, according to a police Source, who predicts “a return to the traditional mobilizations of recent years, with therefore a “very relative enthusiasm” in processions where the civil service, particularly with teachers , could provide the bulk of the troops.
The CGT, FSU, and Solidaires, as well as youth organizations including Unef, Fage and MNL (National High School Movement), have launched a joint appeal in particular “against austerity”, for employment and wages or even peace.
As the European elections on June 9 approach, the CFDT, for its part, called for “join the processions organized throughout France, to demand a more ambitious and more protective Europe for workers.” Her number one Marylise Léon will be in Nancy where she will participate in a debate on this theme of Europe, according to her entourage.
A “very degraded” social situation
FO will mobilize “on its own positions and demands” and its leader, Frédéric Souillot will be in Montauban, in Occitanie.
As for Unsa, it calls for mobilization, pointing out in particular the “falling purchasing power” or the “stigma of the unemployed and the poorest”.
It’s a May 1st without “broad unity” and “a bit of variable geometry”, notes Murielle Guilbert, co-delegate of Solidaires, while not excluding “a little surprise” in terms of mobilization. “This was not seen by certain unions as absolutely requiring unity on this day”, observes the trade unionist, but “we had an interest in having a beautiful May 1st” in view of the issues of the moment such as wages or peace in the world.
Even if “it will be different from last year”, Céline Verzeletti, CGT confederal secretary, expects “an important May 1st in mobilization”, against a backdrop of “attacks on freedoms”, including union freedoms, and a “very degraded” social situation. The Montreuil power station (Seine-Saint-Denis) lists more than “215 assembly points throughout the territory”: we are therefore “on high bases”, she told AFP.
In Paris, the procession must set off at 2 p.m. from Place de la République towards Place de la Nation. In a fairly broad unity, since the CFDT and Unsa will be with the CGT, FSU and Solidaires. According to a police Source, between 15,000 and 30,000 people are expected in the capital, including a few hundred radical demonstrators. But authorities don’t expect it to be extremely tense. In Paris, FO activists will pay tribute as usual to the fighters of the Commune, in front of the Fédérés wall at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in the morning, before demonstrating from the Place d’Italie at noon.
