How did the garbage collectors’ strike ignite tension among elected officials in Paris?

In Paris, garbage trucks stopped their rounds and three of the four incineration plants closed their doors on Monday March 6, the eve of the sixth day of mobilization against the pension reform. In a week, 5,400 tons of waste have piled up in the streets of the capital and the ripeurs’ strike gives the government cold sweats.

So, several voices were raised against the “inaction” of the town hall of Paris, which has not set up a parallel collection system. Clément Beaune, the Minister of Transport, notably split a tweet in which he denounces that “no emergency measure, even partial, [n’a été] decided by the City of Paris“.

Olivia GregoireMinister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, agrees: “The garbage is piling up but the town hall of Paris does not answer the call and persists in an ideological opposition in defiance of Parisians and its public service mission.”

Some borough mayors, starting with Geoffroy Boulard, the LR mayor of the 17th arrondissement and Jean-Pierre Lecoq, LR mayor of the 6th, also urge Anne Hidalgo to act. And the councilor of Paris Pierre-Yves Bournazel ordered the town hall of “urgently requisition” agents to provide garbage collection.

The elected environmentalists, a major support for the garbage collectors?

Opposite, the elected environmentalists of the City blame the government. Thus, Colombe Brossel, assistant in charge of the cleanliness of public space, sorting, waste reduction, recycling and reuse, responded to Clément Beaune’s tweet by assuring: “in my opinion, if the government pension reform is urgently withdrawn, incinerators and garages will be released urgently….”

A message perceived as a form of “blackmail” by many internet users.

Same story on the side ofIan Brossatdeputy mayor of Paris in charge of housing, emergency accommodation and the protection of refugees, who reminds “ministers who pretend to be interested in the garbage collectors’ strike” that these “are on strike against YOUR reform”. “If you want to be useful, withdraw your reform, and in the meantime: pick up!”, He says. Atmosphere…

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