One year after the major May 1 demonstrationsin connection with the pension reform, this Wednesday International Workers’ Day found, in Limousin, much more consistent mobilization figures.
According to the CGT, approximately 2,000 people marched in the streets of Limoges, between the Tourny crossroads and the Jardin d’Orsay. They were around a hundred in Saint-Junien and approximately 150 in Bellac, where the philosopher Barbara Stiegler, in residence at the Théâtre du Cloître, spoke. In Corrèze, according to the police, 120 people gathered in Brive, 80 in Tulle and they were around twenty in Ussel.
I became a young worker and I realize the importance of this day
In the Limougeaud procession, there is Gabrielle. She is student in literature faculty in Limoges. Her first May 1st was last year, at the time of the pension reform, but she wanted to come back this year: “Even if the reform has passed, we continue to campaign for everything that is wrong. Because I became a young worker this year and I realize the importance of this working day. Me, as a precarious contract, where I work labor law is not super respected.”
Among other young people chanting slogans, the young woman continues: “Awareness does not have to come just when you start working, it can come now becausewe know what will await us when we arrive in the world of work. It’s important to all be there in the street, even if I have many of my student friends who are working today… Unfortunately May 1st is not for everyone…”
The May 1st parades, Philippe and Gisèle, two agents of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Council, don’t count them anymore. But they are still just as important: “It’s always important, the mobilization of employees and civil servants. We have to show ourselves, we’re here! Especially with what happened last year! Yes, we feel that people are less motivated , but it’s important to be there when we see the state France is in, we say to ourselves that we must continue to fight.”
More broadly, there is still lots of battles to fight for Laurence Stien, departmental secretary Force Ouvière in Haute-Vienne: budgetary restrictions in the public service which degrade working conditions, the duration of protests for unfair dismissal shortened or even the end of the contractual termination. “Based on what happened with the pension reform, there is a sort of total discomplexity which has taken hold at the government level and which is therefore having repercussions on certain employers.”
The stakes of the European election
In Limoges again, the departmental secretary of the CGT in Haute-Vienne, Arnaud Raffier, wanted to emphasize the European elections by calling for vote against the far right : “These are ultra-liberal and harmful policies for workers and the world of work. In the National Assembly, they voted against the increase in wages, against the reduction in working hours as part of the reform of pensions Today, they say that they are going to increase all salaries but they are impostors because for that they are going to reduce social security contributions.
