STRIKE RATP. The RATP inter-union called for a “renewable strike from March 7”, joining the interprofessional strike against the pension reform which plans to “bring France to a halt”. The disturbances are expected to be considerable.
[Updated March 2, 2023 at 7:31 p.m.] The RATP intersyndicale (CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, UNSA) called for a renewable strike from Tuesday March 7, “convinced of the harmfulness” of pension reform. The unions of the Paris transport authority want to “weigh even stronger and win the withdrawal of this bill”, they write in a press release. “If the government still does not hear the determination of the workers, the youth and all those who support this unitary movement to express their anger in the face of this new injustice, it will have to assume the blocking of the economy in our country”, they added again.
The strike could be renewed on Wednesday March 8, which is the international day of struggle for women’s rights, and the following days because all the unions have opted for the renewable strike. Traffic forecasts are not yet announced for metro, RER, tram and bus traffic in Île-de-France and should be announced 48 hours in advance.
We do not know for the moment how this call will translate in terms of disruptions at the RATP, even if the blockages are likely to be very important. But questioned on Sud Radio, the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune warned that “March 7 […], it will be hard!” He calls on the French to “shift, postpone” their trips and also to resort to teleworking. All SNCF unions are also joining the movement:
This mobilization inevitably reminds us of the strike that paralyzed French rail for two months in 2019, during the first mobilization against the pension reform that had been aborted due to the Covid-19 health crisis. In addition, the social movement could be easily renewed at the RATP thanks to an “unlimited duration” strike notice filed in December 2019 by the RATP unions, as mentioned by TF1 Info.