“I think tomorrow we will see hundreds of thousands of protesters, maybe a million or a million and a half people,” Laurent Bergé, secretary general of the French Democratic Labor Union (CFDT), told French media on Sunday. .
Berger noted that unions have prepared “300 rally points” across the country to mark the May Day celebration.
For their part, the French authorities expect between 500 and 650 thousand demonstrators to take to the streets, including between 80 and 100 thousand in Paris alone.
The movements are expected to significantly affect air traffic, as between 25 and 33% of flights have been canceled at the country’s largest airports, while traffic disruptions at Paris-Orly airport are also expected. continue until Tuesday.
And the general secretary of the “Manpower” “FO” union, Frédéric Soyo, declared that “this year Labor Day will be held in the light of trade union unity, and nothing else, and this is a historic affair. “, according to what was reported by the newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche”.
The last time France’s eight main trade unions took joint action was in 2009 in the face of the global financial crisis, and the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) estimated at the time the number of participants at one million and 200 thousand. people. , while police estimates were limited to 456,000.
In 2002, the unions took to the streets against far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who reached the second round of presidential elections. Estimates of the number of participants in these movements varied between 900,000 and one million and 300 thousand people.
The general secretary of the General Labor Union, Sophie Binet, expected Monday’s movements to be “family, festive”, as she described it.
The central demonstration in Paris will start at 2:00 p.m. local time from Place “La République” towards Place “La Nation”, with the declared participation of trade unionists from all over the world. The authorities also expect the participation of between 1,500 and three thousand “yellow vests”, to which are added between 1,000 and 2,000 people who represent a “danger”, according to police sources.
Authorities have confirmed that 12,000 police will be deployed to provide security, including 5,000 in Paris alone.
100 days of peace
This year, Labor Day will be the 13th day of a wide-ranging national action against a controversial pension reform that has met with broad opposition from different segments of French society.
Macron’s plan, which includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, has been met with protests, fueled by the president’s decision in mid-April to push the amendment through of a constitutional mechanism without submitting it to a vote in the National Assembly because there was no majority in favor of it.
Anger is still present in the streets, as in opinion polls which show a significant drop in Macron’s popularity rating. However, French government sources seem to want to be convinced that the paroxysm of anti-reform movements is behind them, and that the May Day demonstrations could mark the beginning of turning this page.
In a speech shortly after approving the pension reform, the French president, re-elected last year for a new term, spoke of a deadline of “one hundred days” to carry out new projects and calm down after a series of movements of protest in the past years.
This program aims to try to turn the page on the reform of the pension system, which arouses strong opposition and weakens the executive power.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne presented a roadmap for the “hundred day” truce and an action plan, which includes a wide range of “concrete” measures, not to mention a bill on immigration.
The Primature confirmed that it intended to invite the unions “next week”, in a move which seems to have caused divisions, while the general secretary of the French Democratic Union of Labor “CFDT” Laurent Berger announced that his union “going to go talk” with Bourne in case he gets invited. Sophie Binet, general secretary of the General Confederation of Trade Unions, stressed that the unions will take the decision “together” in this regard on Tuesday morning.
The general secretary of the “Manpower” “FO” union Frédéric Soyo sought to minimize these disparities, stressing that union unity “has not weakened”.
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