Paris (France) (AFP) – After weeks of youth mobilization and demonstrations against the high cost of living, unions are calling on employees to take to the streets on Thursday and strike, to demand answers from the government and employers on purchasing power.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 07:55Modified on: 02/11/2026 - 10:11

For the first time since the start of the school year, the mobilization concerns both private and public, with demands for an increase in wages, the protection of public services, the defense of employment and a better distribution of wealth for employees, young people and retirees alike.

“It will be a great day of convergence with private sector employees who will be present, civil servants, retirees, young people,” anticipated Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, on France 2.

"We want two things: salary increases everywhere (...) and a revision of the government's draft budget which, as it stands, is catastrophic for the country," she added.

All the unions joined the call initially launched by an inter-union CFDT, CGT, FO, Unsa and FSU at the beginning of October, when the high school mobilization and social anger began to spread.

“The CFE-CGC will be present,” confirms Christelle Thieffinne, president of the management union, for “the defense of purchasing power” and “the importance of exercising one’s right to democracy.”

Faced with the roundly denounced draft budget, the unions did not obtain measures from Matignon, where they were received ten days ago, even if a possible increase in the minimum wage was mentioned.

“This demonstration on the 5th is important to maintain this pressure and for these measures (...) on which there was finally an opening to really materialize,” considers Cyril Chabanier of the CFTC.

Young people and yellow vests in support

“It’s a day aimed at the world of work,” underlines Caroline Chevé, general secretary of the FSU, but it “also ties in” with the youth mobilizations and the demonstrations of the last three Saturdays which have attracted hundreds of thousands of people each time.

“It is a general anger which finds expression in different ways depending on the categories of the population or according to the dynamics, but ultimately, all of this also contributes to a rejection of the situation,” she considers.

Youth organizations quickly joined in on November 5.

“Of course the high school students and students will join the workers, because they supported us, we support them too,” explained Ryad Rani of the High School Union (USL) on BFMTV.

The coordination of the yellow vests also calls for a “November 5 of the people”.

“The goal is to, little by little, create the possibility of real convergence. Because none of these bodies constituted alone will have the capacity to act in a sufficiently powerful manner to create a balance of power against the government and the billionaires,” develops Benjamin Ball, member of the coordination.

Transport, education, banks

The movement should affect a number of sectors, given the calls launched in particular in public and private education, mutual societies, banks, doctors and pharmacists, etc.

“It is essential to take a new step in mobilization in order to obtain social progress that meets the expectations of staff”, according to the inter-union of urban transport.

The SNCF and RATP traffic forecasts should be known on Tuesday, those for air traffic on Wednesday.

From Friday, dockers set the tone with a 24-hour strike disrupting the ports.

In pure union tradition, the demonstration will be supervised by the organizations on Thursday, but the violence which has punctuated several mobilizations in recent weeks, in particular the looting following that of October 17, remains in mind.

“It seems to us that the security conditions for a demonstration on November 5 are met. But it is true that there is a concern, particularly for my federations which are in commerce, banking or insurance,” explains Christelle Thieffinne.

The question of the Parisian route also arises: these last two Saturdays, the prefecture has refused the procession routes placed in the center. “Everything is organized to divide, to radicalize,” criticizes Thomas Vacheron, confederal secretary of the CGT.

Secretary general of FO, Frédéric Souillot, hopes that from "the evening of the 5th, the executive will take stock of what we have been telling it and explaining for months".

For the moment, the unions, apart from Solidaires, are not talking about renewing the strike beyond Thursday, but at the FSU, "we consider that one day will not be enough", according to Caroline Chevé.

The coordination of the yellow vests already sees an “Act IV” and a renewal of blockades, strikes and demonstrations on November 6 and 7.

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© 2026 AFP

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