French Teachers' Unions Call Nov. 10 Walkout Over Pay Talks Snub

An inter-union bloc covering France's national education, higher education and research sectors has called a day of strikes and demonstrations for Tuesday, November 10, according to a union statement. The call came fast, landing right after the prime minister announced a social conference on wages set for Monday. Unions say the meeting looks like it leaves public-sector workers on the sidelines — and if that holds, they're calling it a fresh provocation.

The coalition isn't just asking its own members to walk out. It urged young people, along with staff across education, higher education and research, to join the action, which organizers say could take the form of strikes, rallies and demonstrations. The November 10 date gives the movement a week to build momentum.

It drops into a country already simmering. On Thursday, November 5, the CGT said more than 250,000 people had demonstrated across 73 cities by 1 p.m. CET as unions pressed their wage demands. CGT Secretary-General Sophie Binet told reporters ahead of a Paris march that the only thing that would stop the mobilization is a response to the demands.

The unrest has been building for weeks. Demonstrations on consecutive weekends drew reported crowds of 320,000 to 400,000 across Paris and other major cities, and on October 31 the Interior Ministry counted roughly 320,000 protesters nationwide while youth unions claimed closer to 500,000, including 200,000 in Paris. That day, police and protesters clashed in the capital, with officers hit by projectiles including pyrotechnics and police answering with tear gas.

Separately, French authorities have opened an attempted murder investigation into a petrol bomb attack on security forces during weekend protests, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP. It said explosive devices were thrown at around fifteen gendarmes and police officers, and that no suspects had been arrested. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had previously condemned the violence.

More pressure is already queued up. BFMTV, citing a law-enforcement source, reported that authorities expect between 40,000 and 60,000 people at a Paris cost-of-living protest, with a union-backed march leaving Place de la République at 2 p.m. for Place de la Nation. Police banned a separate Yellow Vests rally planned for Place de la Concorde, though organizers say they still intend to gather there, and 70,000 officers and gendarmes have been deployed across France.