HUNDREDS of thousands of workers and youth took part in marches across France yesterday as five unions joined strikes and protests in a National Day of Action.
The protests began in September with high school students complaining about poor conditions and resources in education, but they have spread to include the ‘yellow vests’ movement and workers.
Authorities said that 700,000 demonstrators joined the marches, with tens of thousands in Paris alone, in a day billed by one union leader as ‘a great day of convergence’.
Five unions have combined forces across the public and private sector, with demands for higher wages to combat the cost of living and protect the public services.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has said that 70,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed, vowing ‘an extremely firm response’ to any potential outbreaks of violence.
More than 250 separate actions took place yesterday 5th November, with mass mobilisations reported in schools, hospitals and public transport.
Workers were also asked to halt production at oil refineries, and France was expected to import more electricity than it produces yesterday because of disruption at nuclear plants.
A coalition of unions urged workers, pensioners and young people to join yesterday’s day of strikes to intensify pressure on the government. In particular, they are seeking a rise in the minimum wage, or Smic, which is currently £10 an hour.
Disruption and mobilisations were already reported at schools by yesterday morning.
The head of the CFDT union, Marylise Léon, complained that it was not just the minimum wage that needed to increase: ‘We are asking for a net increase of 100 euros a month.’
The government has sought to appease public anger over rising prices, bringing down the cost of fuel by releasing 10 million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves. Ministers have also promised school students to reform the unpopular Parcoursup university admissions platform and eventually replace it by 2028.
Some 81 lycées – high schools that cater for 15-18 year olds – were shut yesterday morning, according to the education ministry. It added that about 17.5% of primary schools too were affected by the strikes.
Large numbers were out on the streets, especially in the capital. One union leader Sophie Binet, who called it the ‘great day of convergence’, added: ‘The time has come to take the mobilisation to the next level; the general strike must take over.’
Meanwhile, a revived gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement that staged a revolt against the high cost of living several years ago has called for further blockades and protests on Friday and Saturday too.
Union leaders complained that recent marches were kept away from the centre of Paris because of violence that broke out in towns and cities on 17th October which led to more than 2,000 stores being looted and historic buildings being set on fire.
Yesterday’s march was allowed through the centre of Paris, although not along the route proposed by the unions between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Concorde, which would have taken protesters near the National Assembly, the Élysée Palace, and the prime minister’s residence at Hôtel Matignon.
The previous big mobilisation last weekend passed off with relatively little violence, and the interior minister said the police deployment was on a similar scale yesterday.
The French working class is on the march and has no intention of stopping until it wins its demands.
The marches are getting bigger each time with more people joining including school youth, students and different sections of workers.
The next step for the trade unions is to call an all-out general strike to bring down the Macron government whose only interest is to try and save the ailing bankrupt French capitalist system.
The only way forward for the mass of French workers and youth is to establish the French socialist republic and go forward to the socialist united states of Europe!
