A new social front has opened in the midst of a political crisis. After the farmers, the SNCF agents, the multiplication of layoffs, here is now the discontent of the civil servants. Called by seven of their union federations, they made their mistrust and anger heard this Thursday, December 5 throughout France.
The fall of Michel Barnier’s government the day before and, with it, the abandonment of the savings measures announced by the highly contested Minister of the Civil Service Guillaume Kasbarian against absenteeism (to the tune of 1.2 billion euros) as well as the elimination of 4,000 positions in National Education risked demobilizing the troops. They may have fallen by the wayside, but the concern is such that it has not discouraged the most determined.
In the state civil service, 18.62% were on strike at midday on Thursday, or more than 246,000 people, the vast majority from National Education, said the Ministry of Civil Service. Nearly one in three teachers (31.32%) was on strike, according to the ministry: 40.07% in primary schools (nursery and elementary schools) and 23.47% in middle and high schools. The Snes-FSU, the first secondary education union, announced that 54% of teachers were on strike in middle and high schools.
“There will be no government that will last in the long term if it does not meet social demands”
In the Parisian procession, the general secretary of the CFDT, Marylise Léon, and her counterpart from the CGT, Sophie Binet, warned of the situation in the country, calling on the head of state and the next government to respond to the emergency social.
“I’m worried. Now is not the time to be either optimistic or pessimistic. The question is whether, finally, social issues will really be on the top of the pile of priority files for the executive,” declared Marylise Léon. “Today, social emergencies and the expectations of workers cannot wait for procrastination lasting several weeks,” added the head of the first French union.
“The CGT would like to express its concern about the seriousness of the situation the country is going through,” said Sophie Binet not far away, pointing to “an economic”, “social” and “democratic” crisis. Addressing Emmanuel Macron, the CGT general secretary also warned that “there will be no government that lasts in the long term if it does not meet social demands”.
In total, a little more than 200 processions – bringing together 200,000 people according to the CGT, 131,000 people according to the authorities – set off all over France. In Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Rennes but also in medium-sized cities like Brest, several thousand demonstrators marched to denounce the “lack of social democracy”, the “breakage” of public service but also the deterioration of working conditions or freezing wages. Troops swelled in the streets by very angry National Education agents.