Five French union confederations called a nationwide strike Thursday over wages, pensions and public services, putting labor demands alongside a contested 2027 budget debate after lawmakers rejected its first part a day earlier.
The Guardian reported that workers and students marched in French cities Thursday. France’s Ministry of the Interior said it expected more than 220 public actions and mobilized 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide.
Preliminary figures from France’s Ministry of Education put weighted teacher strike participation at 15.81%, including 19.14% in primary education and 13.53% in secondary education. The ministry said its figures covered metropolitan academies except Toulouse, as well as Réunion.
The Oct. 5 joint appeal by CFDT, CGT, FO, UNSA and FSU called for wage negotiations, higher pensions and civil-service pay, an increased minimum wage and social benefits, and more funding for public services. The groups argued the government’s budget proposal would freeze social benefits and civil-service pay while reducing public-service funding. Their appeal also called for environmental and industrial planning and proposed taxing wealth, inheritances and dividends while evaluating and redirecting €211 billion in public aid.
The union confederations wrote in their appeal, translated from French, that “everything is rising except salaries and pensions.”
On Nov. 4, the National Assembly rejected the first part of the 2027 finance bill in a first-reading vote. Of 460 lawmakers who voted, 458 opposed it, none supported it and two abstained; the vote did not cover the entire bill.
SNCF regional information pages warned of train disruptions in Grand Est and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur on Nov. 5. The Interior Ministry counted 320,000 people at 291 public actions on Oct. 31, compared with 410,000 on Oct. 24 and 550,000 on Oct. 17. EconoTimes previously covered France’s Oct. 31 nationwide mobilization.
