go There or not ? For the unions, the question of their participation in the mobilization on Saturday, 17 November against the rise in fuel price is not raised for a very long time. The movement of the yellow vests, likely born of an online petition, has oil stain on the social networks, with the creation of groups in Facebook, encouraging car drivers to block the roads, wearing a yellow jacket on this day to protest against the rising prices at the pump.
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Difficult to know in advance the extent of the mobilization, but one thing seems certain : it will take place without the support of the main trade union centres, most of which have announced that they would join not for the parades and that they do not call to manifest.
‘t a “convergence of struggles”
This refusal to question the role of trade unions. “It is very paradoxical, surprising for the researcher in political science and an expert on trade unionism Dominique Andolfatto, unions are usually the first to want to link up with civil society to create a large social movement. Here, the movement of the company, but they refuse.” The proponents of the “convergence of struggles” are going to be disappointed.
The reasons are multiple. The CFDT, one “understands and supports employees who show their displeasure with a new rise in fuel prices,” says Philip Porter, assistant secretary-general in a press release. But the union believes that the call for the blocking of the 17 November “is not the most suitable response”. Explanation resumed on 4 November on LCI by its leader, Laurent Berger. “I will not show on November 17, ( … ) It is necessary to continue on this logic of ecological conversion, we have no choice,” he explained, claiming in passing that the government make a gesture to “accompany” the increase in prices, as a check of energy for the lowest-paid workers.
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In FO, it ensures that an “official press release” will be passed soon and that it is not a question of calling to manifest. The union refers its members to a personal choice. It also calls on the government to give a “boost” on wages”.
The word national does not preclude some local initiatives, in the image of the CFDT transport company of the city of Saint-Etienne, who has filed a notice of strike action to allow drivers bus and tram show on November 17. The union SGP Police FO ensures that the police will not be issuing any PV, in support of the protesters.
not to be associated with the extreme right
in the CGT, the argument is not ecological, but ideological. No question of participating in a movement that is “clearly a mobilization of the extreme right,” denounces the union of Montreuil, in a tract of 30 October. “The mobilization is supported by the leaders of the National Rally, Standing with France and at least one mp, LR in Britain,” denounces the central, followed by Solidarity. “The ‘yellow vests’ are clearly hostile to the tax system, writes Dominique Andolfatto. However, traditionally in France, everything that is hostile to tax is seen as a right, or even poujadiste or far-right. This fear of associated with these currents is a brake.”
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These questions do not agitate not for unions. France Insubordinate, whose leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, wishes to build a “coalition of the anger”, the poses also. Here again, no call to move. “Any recovery policy may be counter-productive, said Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the 30th of October. But if our friends are in, we will be proud of them. Of those who do not want to go there also.”
others, such as François Ruffin, wish to “understand before judging, and know how to combine this sense of injustice tax with an ecological imperative”. Conversely, the member of parliament for Seine-Saint-Denis Clémentine Autain, refuses to “scroll to the call of Minuteet with Marine Le Pen”, as she explains in The World of 6 November.
“we need a slogan precise”
Another reason of discord, the channels of the mobilization. “I see the pissed of people and the question of the essence is the water drop that makes the vase overflow, analysis François Hommeril, at the head of the CFE-CGC. But it does not launch a call to mobilize like this, it is necessary to bring together the whole of our proceedings, and it will be impossible by the November 17. Most importantly, we do not usually associate ourselves with movements that are beyond the sphere of association. We need a slogan precise, and a problem that is directly relevant to our topics, such as working time or retirement.” It is not against “accompanying a movement from society”, but the leader of the frameworks do not recall precedents in the history of his organization.
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The movement of the yellow vests
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“In a way, this spontaneous movement, born via social networks, and that is growing quickly, it weakens the unions and their methods-traditional, judge Dominique Andolfatto. The recent mobilizations initiated by the organizations themselves have not been great successes. They struggle to gather as before.”
