French unions call for new round of strike action on October 2
Disruption is again expected in travel, health, and education sectors
It will be the second round of strike action in as many weeks
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France’s major unions are calling for a second round of strikes and protests on Thursday, October 2, following a first day of action earlier this month.
The call has been made by the intersyndicale group comprising the eight largest unions in France.
Strike motions in several sectors are set to be filed to cover the action in due course.
It comes after a failed meeting between the unions and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu held today (September 24).
Unions previously set a deadline of today for the prime minister to agree to several major demands – including a redrafting of the 2026 budget and overturning the 2023 pension reforms – following last week’s action.
Mr Lecornu met several union leaders during the high-stakes meeting, but was unable to strike a deal.
“The Prime Minister has not provided any clear response to the workers' expectations,” said leader of France’s largest union the CFDT Marylise Léon following the meeting.
“For the intersyndicale, this is a missed opportunity,” she added.
It is likely that political parties on the left, including both the Socialists and La France Insoumise, will back the movement.
Both parties supported previous strike action on September 18.
How disruptive will strikes be?
Strike motions in several sectors are likely to be filed, with disruption likely similar to last Thursday.
In particular the travel, education, and health sectors are likely to be impacted, although action last week was exacerbated by pharmacist unions coordinating their own strikes on September 18. They are not currently set to repeat action on October 2.
Further clarification of the extent of the disruption will be made available through official channels next week.
Interior Ministry figures claim around 500,000 people joined protests on September 18, with the unions claiming around one million people turned out.
Numbers for next week’s actions are far from certain.
Recent major protests including the gilets jaunes and those against the 2023 pension reform – the latter of which were backed by the intersyndicale – saw protestor numbers increase for a number of weeks in a row until reaching a high point.
A strong first strike day on September 18 points towards a possible repeat of this.
However, in both these instances weekend protests were utilised, allowing people that were unable to join midweek action to participate.
With October 2 again being a Thursday, those seeking to join will mostly need to go on strike to attend.
Although a series of strikes held closely together can put pressure on the government, it runs the risk of running out of steam too soon, with workers not feeling motivated enough to join action or unable to surrender too much of their monthly wages by striking.
