French Unions Announce Mass Demonstrations for May and June

Lisbeth Latham

France’s eight major union confederations have called further mass mobilisations for May 26 and June 13. The announcement followed a joint meeting of the national leaderships of the union confederations held on May 4 to assess the May Day protests.

In their joint statement, the Unions argue that the May 1st demonstration – which involved more than 1.2 million and was third joint action in the last four months “testifies to the deep roots of the mobilisation and indicated the commitment of employees, job seekers and retirees to express their grievances and get a response”. The statement continued “the government and employers would be wrong to treat them with contempt by refusing them, where as the crisis, with unemployment and dismissals strike them (workers, retirees and job seekers) with full whip”.

The joint union leaderships will meet in the next few days to develop a set of demands that develop on the demands raised on the government and employers on January 5. The unions have made it clear that they are expecting a rapid response to their demands.