They campaign like their political counterparts. Three days before the first round of the early legislative elections, CGT activists in Vienne increased strike actions, Thursday June 27, 2024, to fight against the far right and call to vote in favor of the New Popular Front. The CNPE Civaux section was the first on the bridge at 7 a.m., at the entrance to the power plant, to distribute leaflets to employees.
“The important thing is to mobilize every day”
Members of the CGT of Poitiers University Hospital imitated them, between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., on the square in front of the Jean-Bernard Tower. In addition to the national context, they presented social demands linked to the hospital. “We are calling for an increase in the index point, the regularization of precarious statuses, the end of bed closures, the return of retirement to 60, the end of 12-hour schedules…”lists Marie Brossard, a section activist. A general staff meeting is also planned for this Friday, June 28, at 9 a.m., on the sidelines of the establishment’s supervisory board.
The CGT was also at the initiative of two rallies. Mid-morning, 80 people first gathered at the François-Mitterrand esplanade in Châtellerault. Julien Delhoume, from the local union of the CGT, called for blocking the « F-Haine ». “We meet many employees, comrades, disappointed, desperate by what is happening. We are here today to tell them that there is an alternative, that we can win and finally have, all, happy days.”continued a CGT activist into the microphone.
In Châtellerault, 80 people gathered on the Mitterrand esplanade in the town centre.
© (Photo NR-CP, Anthony Floc’h)
Then, around 2 p.m., more than 70 people gathered at the roundabout of Poitiers train station. A low turnout that pushed back any idea of a demonstration in the city center. But not to the point of discouraging Julien Hémon, secretary of the departmental union: “The important thing is to mobilize every day. We are here to stand with the workers and all those who fight against the extreme right.” He and his comrades will be back again this Friday, from 7 a.m., to distribute leaflets around the Poitiers Grand Large shopping center.
Despite tight deadlines, the CGT hoped for inter-union mobilization. But the CNT-SO (National Confederation of Workers-Worker Solidarity) organized its own rally, with a handful of demonstrators, in the morning in front of the rectorate. While nearly 80 people responded to the call from the Human Rights League at 6 p.m. in Châtellerault. And instead, Force Ouvrière announced its intention to file a complaint, “after being informed that its logo had been used illegally in an unsigned, unidentified leaflet that CGT representatives from the Poitiers University Hospital had allegedly distributed”.
