after 49.3, the unions are already fighting back on the pavement

THOMAS SAMSON / AFP

In the minutes following the announcement of the use of 49-3 to pass the pension reform without a vote in the Assembly, thousands of opponents gathered more or less spontaneously on the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

POLICY – Immediate reaction. In the minutes that followed the triggering of Article 49.3 by Elisabeth Borne to pass the pension reform without a vote in the Assembly, the unions immediately announced that they would retaliate this Thursday, March 16, while a rally more or less less spontaneous saw thousands of demonstrators massing on the Place de la Concorde, in Paris.

It was first Laurent Berger, the secretary general of the CFDT, who hastened to announce to AFP that ” new mobilizations ” to come, estimating on Twitter that the ” political compromise failed “.

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“Obviously there will be new mobilizations, because the protest is extremely strong. We already have a lot of reactions from the union teams. We will decide together in an inter-union”Who will be held this Thursday evening at the headquarters of the CGThe added.

” Constitutional “, Yes. ” Legit “, No.

“The accumulation leads to a denial of social democracy”added the president of the CFTC Cyril Chabanier. “If 49.3 is constitutional and legal, it is not legitimate, especially after having already used 47-1 in the Assembly and 44-2 in the Senate”. As for the general co-delegate of Solidaires, Simon Duteil, he believes that “49.3 on pension reform is 100% denial of democracy”.

“It is for the executive a triple defeat: popular, moral and political. Unsa will not let it happen”tweeted the secretary general of the organization, Laurent Escure.

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Another strong man of the intersyndicale, the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez finally affirmed that “the mobilization and the strikes must be amplified”. “The mobilization of citizens under the impetus of trade unions did not allow the President of the Republic to have a majority to pass his law. The passage in force with the use of 49.3 must find an answer to the height of this contempt of the people “he wrote in a message.

Gathering at Place de la Concorde

Moreover, the CGT is already maneuvering in the French capital, where several buildings were occupied in the afternoon by demonstrators opposed to the pension reform. In particular the entrance to the Ministry of Culture, where the SNJ-CGT took place, and the Hôtel de la Marine, where a banner of the CGT-spectacle and CGT-CMN was deployed.

And at the same time, an authorized rally against the reform continues to take shape on the Place de la Concorde (located opposite the National Assembly) where there are also several elected officials and political figures opposed to this reform. On the spot, Jean-Luc Melenchonhas also castigated a “ text which has no parliamentary legitimacy, which has none in the street and which has none in the polls », before adding that « unions call for continued action, and that’s what we’re going to get down to “.

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An anticipated scenario

As of Tuesday, two days before the use of 49.3 by Elisabeth Borne in the hemicycle, the president of the CFE-CGC union, François Hommeril, had already sketched the main lines of a scenario without a vote in the Assembly.

” If the text is adopted by 49.3, we will continue to fight, he said on franceinfoI would like there to be a vote so that we know whether or not this project is rejected by the National Assembly”. In case of 49.3, “That changes everything: we will consider that we are dealing with a democratic accident”.

A story similar to Unsa, as declared by Dominique Corona, union number, still on franceinfo, Thursday morning. ” Mobilization does not necessarily mean demonstration. This is one of the options, but there are others, such as that of the Constitutional Council, that of the implementing decrees when they fall… We have a whole panoply of possible actions. And you know, when we are against a reform, we continue to fight ”.

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It now remains to be seen what the unions will decide on Thursday evening during the inter-union. Transport, refineries, garbage collectors… There is no shortage of options to continue mobilizing against government reform.

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