Know how to keep some underfoot. While the unions call for “putting France to a halt” on March 7, the strike movement announced this Thursday, February 16 against the pension reform – fifth day of mobilization – promises to be in sharp decline, with less disruption , while part of France is on vacation.
Unlike previous days of strikes, the disruptions will be greater in air than in rail. On Tuesday evening, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) asked companies to preventively give up 30% of their flights this Thursday at Paris-Orly airport, due to a strike by air traffic controllers. This is more than during the first three days of mobilization against the pension reform during which 20% of the movements had to be canceled at Orly.
And this time, other airports are affected such as those of Toulouse, Montpellier, Marseille and Nantes. The DGAC has demanded that carriers cancel 20% of their movements there. Disruptions and delays are to be expected nationwide. Air France said it was able to fly 9 planes out of 10 on Thursday on its short and medium-haul flights and “all of its long-haul flights”.
Regarding land transport, the SNCF announced that 4 out of 5 TGVs would be able to run, a marked improvement compared to previous days. On the other hand, regional TER traffic will remain severely disrupted with 1 in 2 trains.
In Paris, the metros will run almost normally according to the RATP and traffic will be normal for buses and trams. Some suburban trains will be partially disrupted such as RER B, C and D as well as some Transilien lines. Lines B and D, the most affected, will only have one out of two RERs.
In the energy sector, the CGT, which has announced renewable strikes from March 7, calls for a stoppage of work this Thursday but “essentially” to ensure “participation in demonstrations”, Sébastien told AFP. Ménesplier, general secretary of CGT-Energie.
Nevertheless, as of Wednesday afternoon, many hydroelectric power stations went on strike, in particular the most powerful in France, at Grand’Maison (Isère), making the equivalent of some 3,000 MW unavailable for the network. These cuts in production, closely supervised by the manager of the high and very high voltage line network RTE, generally do not lead to power cuts and mainly affect EDF’s finances.
The teachers’ unions do not provide estimates on the rate of strikers expected in national education during this school holiday period in France (zones A and B are already on vacation and zone C will be this Friday evening) . University sites were closed on Wednesday in Rennes, Nantes and Paris (Tolbiac-University Paris 1) due to blockages by students or possible occupations.
