Murray Smith
The mobilisation for the one-day strike and day of action on October 4 called by a united front of French trade unions was expected to be massive, and it lived up to expectations. Across the country there were an estimated 1.3 million demonstrators in 150 towns and cities.
That compares with a million in 115 towns and cities during the last big day of action on March 10. The most notable element this time was the participation of workers from the private sector, on a wider scale than on previous occasions.
Also significant was the participation of large numbers of what in France are called "cadres" — middle-and lower-level management.
The central theme of the demonstrations was opposition to measures adopted by the government that amend the labour code to make it much easier for employers to sack workers without having to justify it.
But in fact the mobilisation represented a much broader protest against the whole of the government's economic and social policies — a continuation in the streets of the "No" vote to the European Constitution on May 29.
Outside of Paris, where 150,000 demonstrated, the biggest demonstration was in Marseilles, with 100,000 taking to the streets. Leading the demonstration were the workers of Nestle, who are fighting to defend their jobs and those of the SNCM, the publicly-owned ferry company that runs services between the south of France and Corsica, who are opposing government plans to privatise it.
In the days preceding October 4, the port of Marseilles was paralysed by a strike of port employees in support of their comrades of the SNCM.
Meanwhile, members of the main trade union, the CGT, occupied a ferry, while their colleagues of the militant nationalist Corsican Workers Union took over a ferry and sailed it back to Corsica.
In spite of the peaceful nature of the takeover, the government reacted by sending in elite police units by helicopter to take back the ship. This put the final spark to an already explosive situation in Corsica, where hundreds of mainly young demonstrators battled police in the streets of the port city of Bastia and rockets were fired against a government building and a Customs boat.
On October 6, hundreds of ferry workers pressed on with their strike, keeping pressure on Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin as he prepared to defend his economic and labour policies on national television.
[Abridged from <http://www.internationalviewpoint.org> Murray Smith is the former international organiser for the Scottish Socialist Party and is now an active member of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR).]
From Green Left Weekly, October 26, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.