FRENCH STUDENTS protested over pension reform in cities across the country yesterday, but union leaders gave the first signal they planned to wind down their strikes and seek negotiations with government.
With parliament expected to definitively approve the final version of the controversial pensions bill today, François Chérèque, the leader of the large CFDT union, hinted at a change in tactics when he said the campaign would enter a “new phase”.
“The parliamentary debate will come to an end, and we’ll be looking at it from another perspective, obviously,” Mr Chérèque said. “We’re not calling into question the legitimacy of parliament . . . but a law is always perfectible.”
Students held rallies in 20 cities yesterday, the biggest outside the senate in Paris. Jean-Baptiste Prévost, president of the Unef student union, said the protest was “a step towards next Thursday’s strikes and protests” – the first of two more days of action planned by unions this week.
But there were already signs yesterday that the protest movement against French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age may be waning.
In Marseille, binmen returned to work after a 14-day strike left 10,000 tonnes of rubbish in the streets of the Mediterranean city.
Fuel was leaving four of France’s 12 oil refineries after workers voted to lift their blockades, although port strikes were still preventing crude oil from reaching the plants and France continues to import 100,000 tonnes of refined fuel a day from Britain, Russia, Italy and Spain – a fourfold increase on the normal rate.
Energy minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, said fuel supply was restored at about 80 per cent of the country’s petrol stations, although the industry association warned the return of full stocks could take days. Train services were nearly back to normal.
When a law is approved by the French parliament, there is a period of several weeks before it comes into effect. Unions remember that when huge protests forced the government to retreat on plans for a controversial work contract for young people in 2006, the Bill had already been passed by parliament before it was withdrawn.
They may hope to win further concessions during talks with government in the coming weeks, either on the issue of pensions itself or on employment initiatives for the young, which was raised by union spokesmen yesterday.
“It’s not over,” insisted Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT union. “I repeat, the movement is not finished. It will continue. It will take other forms. The subjects it has raised are not closed, whatever happens in the coming days.”
Responding to the shift in rhetoric from the unions, finance minister, Christine Lagarde, welcomed the “return to reason and dialogue”. She had previously warned the strikes had cost the French economy between €1.6 billion and €3.2 billion, but said yesterday that this would not affect the growth outlook.
“To put talks on the table, to discuss youth employment, older people’s employment and examine the underlying problems that are worrying young and old people – that’s really a turning point and I think it’s a good thing,” Ms Lagarde said.
Prime minister François Fillon said strikers should back down now that the law was about to be enacted, telling a meeting of deputies from the ruling UMP party that the protest movement “no longer has any meaning”.
Polls have shown that a clear majority of French people oppose Mr Sarkozy’s reform and approve of the strikes, but when Ifop asked this week if protesters had the right to block companies, roads and fuel depots, some 59 per cent of respondents said “No”.