On Friday, October 22, finally the
French government managed to get the pensions reform passed through the
Senate. The increasingly unpopular government of Sarkozy, faced with an
unprecedented movement of strikes, demonstrations, road blockades, mass
pickets and general assemblies, hoped that this, together with the
beginning of the All Saints school holidays, would bring the mass
movement to a halt. This does not seem to be happening, however.

After October 12th, the movement against
the attack on pensions has reached a critical threshold. The great days
of action are no longer the centre of gravity, although they are still
massive and increasingly militant, as shown by October 19th. Now, the
central axis of the struggle has shifted onto open-ended strikes and
pickets blockading different sectors of the economy.

On Saturday, October 16, more than 3 million people took to the streets
of France in hundreds of demonstrations in cities and towns throughout
the country in the latest national day of action against the proposed
counter-reform of the pensions system. The number was on a similar scale
as October 2, the last time the trade unions called a day of action on a
Saturday but the movement has certainly developed further. The
demonstrations were another show of strength of this movement which has
lasted for months and seen 5 national days of action since the end of
the summer holidays.