the government facing an explosion of social movements

POLITICS – Red Autumn. Already faced with a wave of social plans that threatens President Emmanuel Macron's record and promises on employment, the executive must face an explosion of calls for strikes and social mobilization for the days and weeks future.

By the admission of the Minister of Labor Agnès Panosyan-Bouvet: the lights are red. The announcements by Michelin of the closure in 2026 of its factories in Vannes and Cholet (1,254 jobs) and by Auchan of a social plan threatening 2,389 jobs in France could indeed be the first in a long series.

It is in this eruptive political and social context that calls for mobilization are multiplying. Unions in many sectors denounce the upcoming social plans, but also the consequences of the savings requested by the government to straighten out public accounts.

SNCF, farmers, air transport…

First steps this week. Michel Barnier and his ministers will be confronted with three different movements in seven days. In the airports first, Thursday November 14. The National Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL) calls on all employees in the airline sector to stop work and demonstrate in front of the National Assembly on the occasion of the budget vote. He is protesting against the increase in taxation on air transport, wanted by the government and voted by the deputies.

The next day, Friday November 16, the farmers will take over and will take their turn in the streets. The FNSEA and Young Farmers call for “the resumption of actions”, with demonstrations and blockades. They are demanding in particular the realization of the promises made less than a year ago, after a movement which had partly paralyzed the main roads in France.

A few days later, it was the SNCF unions who took action. They call on them to stop work from Wednesday, November 20 in the evening to Friday, November 22 in the morning. They are demanding a moratorium on the dismantling of Fret SNCF, the division dedicated to rail freight, and protesting against the terms of opening regional lines to competition. That's not all.

To increase the pressure, the railway company's unions have already issued an indefinite strike notice from Wednesday December 11, renewable for 24-hour periods. A social movement which could disrupt service during the Christmas holidays.

No truce for confectioners?

Strike in the stations or not, the month of December will in any case be delicate for the government, already weakened by the debates in Parliament on the state budget and struggling to reassure threatened employees. In addition to the SNCF, the air transport sector, or horse racing, anger is also brewing in the public service.

Two of the main unions, FO and the CGT, are effectively calling for a strike to denounce Minister Guillaume Kasbarian's plans, particularly on waiting days in the event of sick leave. The hypothesis of mobilizations at the beginning of December, perhaps over three days, is on the table.

We can also cite the calls of the CGT for “ mobilizations for employment in all regions » on December 12. Or the movement of medical biologists, and their four representative unions which promise a “shutdown”, i.e. the closure of analysis laboratories from December 23 to 31 inclusive, if Health Insurance does not reopen negotiations on their recently revised prices downwards. So many rebellions that threaten the executive with a garland of end-of-year defeats.

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