The Easter holiday offered Parisians some respite after nearly three weeks of a garbage collectors’ strike that had seriously affected the capital. The respite was short-lived, as the city of Paris’ waste management services announced the resumption of the strike on Thursday, April 13th.
The determination of the strikers is unfailing. According to Le Parisien, the intention of the waste treatment branch of the CGT union is to “turn the streets of Paris into a public dump until the pension reform is withdrawn.” This mobilisation is ‘renewable,’ which means that it can be called to last for an undetermined period.
The date was not chosen by chance. It is the day before the Constitutional Council communicates its opinion on the validity of the pension reform. After the failure of the motions of censure, the opponents of the law are counting heavily on a possible negative opinion of this high public body to potentially force the rewriting of some contested parts of the law—even if it is very unlikely that the Council will pronounce itself in favour of its withdrawal or oppose its main provisions.
As of Thursday, April 13th, waste collection will therefore be suspended again in Paris, which should primarily affect those arrondissements whose waste management is provided by the public service of the City of Paris. But the other districts, served by private companies, will also be affected: the call for a strike has been relayed to private employees. Private refuse companies will also be hampered in their work because the incinerators that allow the treatment of Parisian waste will be blocked for all by the strikers.
“If we have to hold on for a fortnight, we’ll hold on for a fortnight,” said union leader Régis Vieceli. “We need the movement to be even stronger than the first time, since Emmanuel Macron did not hear us.”
The previous strike ended due to a lack of troops: the strikers were indeed unable to financially support such a long movement. This time, the mobilised garbage collectors wanted to organise themselves to be able to last longer by playing on the solidarity between the different branches of the sector. The strike will be done by also relying on a better-controlled staff rotation.
The reaction of the state and the city to this new strike is difficult to anticipate for the moment. In March, the police prefecture had to resort to requisitioning staff, which is likely to happen again as the fine weather sets in and the influx of tourists increases in the streets of Paris.
