Several mobilizations are planned for Tuesday September 15 in Paris. In a constrained budgetary context, many professions have planned to demonstrate in the capital. The police want increases, while employees in the energy sector want to defend their “agent rate”, a preferential rate on gas and electricity that the government could review. A coalition of actors – firefighter, nursing, student unions, environmental and animal protection associations – is also calling for a rally in front of the Ministry of the Economy, “to demand resources to address climate change” after the historic summer that France experienced. Franceinfo takes stock.
Police officers mobilized on budgetary issues
The Alliance Police nationale union is calling for a mobilization in Paris on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., on the Champs-Elysées. “Salaries, careers, working conditions, safety… we demand answers and action,” writes the union, made up mainly of peacekeepers and assistant police officers, in its call for mobilization. This police anger comes after a meeting with the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, at the beginning of September, after which the unions left "unsatisfied".
The meetings with the minister focused on an increase in the risk premium (ISSP) for police officers, which has not been increased since 2019. A demand which, according to Alliance, was not heard by Laurent Nuñez. The general secretary of the Alliance union, Fabien Vanhemelryck, demanded “between 300 and 500 million euros” in additional annual budget for the police. The Un1té union will also mobilize in certain cities, such as Nîmes and Laon, report Midi libre and L'Aisne nouvelle.
Energy sector employees want to defend the “agent rate” for energy
Electricians and gas workers plan to go on massive strike on Tuesday to express their "anger" at plans to call into question their preferential energy tariff. They defend a “totem” which is an integral part of their remuneration. The government is considering reviewing this "agent tariff", after having received "a formal notice from the Court of Auditors" to "come into compliance with the valuation of this gap (...) between this tariff and the real value of energy", according to the Ministry of Energy. This historic component of the status of electricians and gas workers concerns some 140,000 employees in the sector, but also the nearly 160,000 retirees from companies from the historic operators EDF and GDF.
Some employees anticipated the call at the Flamanville nuclear power plant (Manche), affected on Friday by a drop in load on its reactor number 2 and delayed maintenance work for its reactor number 1. In the immediate future, the strike should not have visible effects for users. But “if the government does not hear the message expressed on the 15th, the anger will be even stronger and it will be expressed through other levers,” warned Alexandre Grillat, general secretary of CFE Energies.
A coalition of professions mobilized “to demand resources in the face of climate change”
Unions of firefighters, nurses, students, environmental and animal protection associations, and even a feminist collective, are calling for demonstrations in front of the Ministry of the Economy on Tuesday from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. “Together, we are launching a call to come together to demand resources to address climate change,” write the various organizers, including Greenpeace, #Noustoutes and Amnesty International. They call for several emergency measures to be included in the 2027 budget, including a plan for thermal kettles, “a tax on the biggest polluters” and even means for fire prevention.
This demonstration comes after France experienced its "hottest" summer on record, also marked by fires and drought. The coalition plans other demonstrations across France on September 26.
Higher education and research on strike against “chronic underfunding”
The higher education and research sector will meet on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at Place Jussieu, in the 5th arrondissement of the capital, before strolling towards its supervisory ministry. They will demonstrate against "the chronic underfunding of higher education and public research, the deterioration of study and working conditions, and measures which weaken access to higher education for all", relays the CGT in a press release.
