Massive French strike exposes deep anger with Macron’s handling of economic woes

MARSEILLE, France (CN) — Waves of people marched down Marseille’s central Canebière Avenue Thursday morning as if being carried by an invisible current. They were heading toward the city’s Old Port along with an estimated 15,000 others to demand better working conditions amid mounting frustrations with France’s government.

Officials estimated 800,000 people took part nationwide.

“We’re tired of everyone taking advantage of workers,” Cecil Theverie, a member of the biggest workers union in the country, told Courthouse News from the port. “We want to be heard by the new prime minister in his government and with his budget — if he’s wants to last, he doesn’t have a choice, actually.”

In the beginning of the month, eight unions called for Thursday’s general strike to protest former Prime Minister François Bayrou’s 2026 budget proposal, which included scrapping two public holidays and cutting public sector jobs as part of efforts to reel in the nation’s deficit.

Anger over the cuts ultimately brought down his government after a confidence vote on Sept. 8, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to swiftly appoint right-wing loyalist Sébastien Lecornu as his replacement.

But the power shift didn’t stop social unrest. Before Thursday’s strike, on Sept. 10 roughly 200,000 people participated in the “Block Everything” movement to express anger against Macron.

“We met at the end of August, the eight French unions, and we all agreed that there was widespread anger among workers in the country, a great deal of anger against the government and particularly against the budget that was presented in July,” Boris Plazzi, the confederal secretary of the CGT workers union, told Courthouse News. “We cannot allow the government to, as we say in French, pick the pockets of workers, those in precarious employment situations and pensioners — we must take action.”

Amandine Isoardi, a member of the FO13 workers union, told Courthouse News alongside Marseille’s Old Port, “There are salaries that aren’t moving. We’re here to defend our rights amid this change in government with the new prime minister.”

Teachers, railway workers, pharmacists and physical therapists were among the largest groups taking part; an estimated 90% of schools and pharmacies were closed and rail traffic was disrupted, though less than expected.

In Marseille, trains were running on time from the central Gare Saint-Charles, the station wasn’t crowded, and one man told Courthouse News that he experienced no disruption. Roughly one mile down the road, high schoolers from the central Lycée Thiers built a physical blockade of trash bins, mattresses and fences to block the door of the school, where a Palestinian flag was hanging overhead. “Revolution” was scribbled on one mattress in red spray paint.

Plazzi said the unions are looking for a “radical change in policy” and are calling for a few priority measures. The group wants salaries and pensions to reflect rising inflation, public sector jobs to be secured, and the retirement age to be rolled back to 62 from 64. The union is calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.

Félix Faber, president of the FFMKR13 union of masseuses and physical therapists, told Courthouse News that when the national target for health insurance spending was exceeded in June, planned salary increases for health care professionals were frozen.

“The consequence was that the salary increases we were expecting for July 1 were postponed, at best, until Jan. 1, 2026,” he told Courthouse News. “This was the first major salary increase we had been anticipating in over 10 years, and it involved an increase of just over 1 euro per procedure.”

He said physical therapy fees remain low despite rising inflation; an average 30-minute session costs 17 euros ($20).

“The fees for these procedures are very low and have barely increased in line with economic conditions and inflation,” he said. “Consequently, physiotherapists simply can’t make a living from these services anymore.”

Much of the anger is being directed at Macron himself. On the port, numerous signs read “Macron Démission,” or “Macron Resign,” a common chant during demonstrations. One woman’s sign said “Error System Reboot; these reboots are made for walking.”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the extreme-left leader of France Unbowed, joined the protest in Marseille. This bolstered arguments that the party is trying to appropriate recent demonstrations, which arose from social media without a clear leader. He told reporters “The president is chaos, and everything that has happened at the moment is the result of his actions, not mine,” and called for the “departure of the president of the republic.”

Macron’s approval rating is at an all-time-low at roughly 15%.

“The problem we’ve had for some time with Macron is that he tends to put old politicians back in power,” Faber said. “The French are fed up with this political class that has lived solely off politics, who have never had a job outside of politics, and the French want to see people who are closer to the ground and the realities we face.”

Follow @lilyradz