Le gilet jaune, Éric Drouet, expulsé du Salon de l’Agriculture dans une grosse bousculade alors qu’il tentait d’approcher Emmanuel Macron. #SalonAgriculture pic.twitter.com/q1Yi4uOaZk
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) February 22, 2020
When France is viewed from abroad, the strength of its unions is taken for granted. And sure enough, as strikes over proposed pension reforms have taken off since early December, the English-language press has been peppered with references to France’s “powerful unions” and talk of the country being “paralysed” by strike action. If only.
In reality, the movement has revealed some of the limitations of French trade unionism today. While polls show that the majority of people continue to both oppose the government’s reforms and support the strikes, protest turnout has gradually declined over the course of several national mobilisations.