antenne assedic

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Antenne ASSEDIC
diffusion list
Chronology
Chronology of the movement, December 1997 - January 1998
This document consists of a chronology of the movement of the unemployed and
those in insecure jobs. The information has been collected from the press,
from the Internet and through the author's participation in the Paris
general meetings held at Jussieu (every evening at 6pm).


(Translator's note: I can't absolutely guarantee my translations for the
various benefit offices and other establishments referred to. I have done my
best to come up with plausible (UK) English equivalents, but am not
completely convinced. Any corrections or amendments welcome.)

4 Dec : Occupation of 7 Assedics(1) in the Bouches-du-Rhône organised by the
CGT's(2) section for the
unemployed. Object: to demand the end of year bonus of 3,000 francs awarded
every year since 1991.

15 Dec : Occupation of the Assedic at Arras.

16 Dec : Beginning of a week of emergency action around social security
issues, called by the associations of the unemployed and those in insecure
jobs. Occupation (lasting several hours) of the Paris headquarters of the
holding company CGIP, owned by the President of the CNPF(3) (89 rue Taitbout, 9th arrondissement).

17 Dec : Paris - demonstrators attempt to occupy the Assedic branch on the
rue de Tanger (19th arrondissement), then occupy the pyramid in the Louvre
and secure one of the galleries.

18 Dec : Martine Aubry announces a 3% increase in the ASS,(4) amounting to 1.48 francs per claimant
per day. Occupation of the municipal Social Services centre in Bordeaux, the
Assedic at St Etienne du Rouvray and the Marseille Stock Exchange. Attempted
occupation of the CNAF(5) in the 13th arrondissement in Paris.

22 Dec : Occupations of Assedics at Montbéliard, Le Havre and
Harfleur. Attempted occupation of the employers' association in Arras.

24 Dec : Occupiers of the town hall for the 11th and 12th arrondissements in
Marseille are forcibly expelled. Paris: demonstration outside the
UNEDIC(6) headquarters. By
now, some 15 Assedics are under occupation, of which 8 are in the
Bouches-du-Rh«ne.

25 Dec : Martine Aubry, Minister for Employment and Social Security, refers
our demands to a series of emergency committees under the authority of local
prefectures.

29 Dec : Occupations of Assedics at Champigny, Poissy and Petit-Quevilly
(voluntarily evacuated in the afternoon). At Châum;tellerault, a three
hour blockage of the railway leads to police intervention; the same action
at Marseille and Martigues provokes no intervention. In Arras, demonstrators
wreck the gates and doors at the entrance to the prefecture when the Prefect
refuses to meet them.

30 Dec : Occupation of the CAS(7) at 5 boulevard Diderot, 12th arrondissement, Paris.
This occupation was carried out under very difficult physical circumstances.

31 Dec : Requisition of Fouquet's restaurant in Paris. In St Brieuc, the
occupiers leave the Assedic voluntarily; similarly at Champigny, following
an agreement with the Prefecture. Expulsion at Limoux. At this stage, 13
Assedics as well as the Paris CAS are occupied. Nicole Notat, General
Secretary of the CFDT(8)
which administers the UNEDIC, denounces "the manipulation of distress".

2 Jan : Nantes, occupation of the CCAS.(9) Paris, blockade of trains at the Gare de Lyon and
occupation of the CAS. Occupations of 14 Assedics: 8 in the Bouches-du-Rh«ne
(including Marseille, Vitrolles, Arles, Martigues and Aix), Arras, St
Dié, Poissy, Bourges, Brive and Fourmies. Gayssot, the Minister of
Transport, announces transport concessions for the unemployed.

3 Jan : Martine Aubry announce a series of measures, including the release
of 500 million francs for retraining grants. These do not represent new
benefits, but rather the discharging of the state's debt to the UNEDIC!

5 Jan : Nantes, new occupations of the Assedic and the CCAS, by different
groups; two temporary employment agencies painted over; blockade of the
TGV(10) the previous day.
Lille, occupation of the Assedic. Châtellerault, blockade of the A10
toll road. St Nazaire, occupation of the CCAS. Paris, occupation of the
social security office at the town hall in the 11th arrondissement.

6 Jan : Evictions from the Assedics at Clermont-Ferrand, St Dié
(occupied since the previous day), Perpignan-Sud (re-occupied the next day),
Bordeaux, Villenave-d'Ornon, Cherbourg, Lorient, Paris (10th) and Elbeuf.
Occupations in Lille, Roubaix, Vannes, Elbeuf, Montpellier and Montbeliard;
of the Alençon CAF, of the offices in Metz managing Assedics in the
Moselle, of the Dole Assedic, and (briefly) of an Assedic and the DDTE(11) in Paris.

7 Jan : First national day of demonstrations, affecting more than 50 towns.
New occupations -- Angoulme (Assedic, followed by eviction, then blocking
of the TGV) Poitiers (Futuroscope theme park) Assedics at Villejuif,
Champigny, Fontenay, La Rochelle and (briefly) Limoges Rennes (town hall,
then briefly of the regional administrative offices for work and employment)
Paris (several TGVs obstructed, followed by an invitation to the Restaurant
Train Bleu; 51 people detained for questioning) Guingamp town hall
Expulsions -- Annecy and Chambéry county councils Bordeaux Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (CCI), occupied since the morning Lille Assedic
(briefly), Amiens, Le Mans, Cherbourg and Brest Altogether, 26 provincial
Assedic branches are now under occupation, compared with 18 the day before
and 13 on January 2nd.

8 Jan : Expulsions -- Assedic branches at Bagneux (just occupied), Metz,
Choisy-le-Roi, Champigny, Villejuif, Lille, Bordeaux, Lanester, St-Gaudens,
Quimper. Voluntary departure from the Diderot CAS in Paris. New occupations
-- Besançon treasury and then -- following expulsion from there --
occupation of the departmental administration for work and employment at
Doubs Alençon (family allowance agency) Montpellier (transport
company and the lobby of Crédit Lyonnais) Marseille
(Bouches-du-Rhône employers' association) Lorient (entrance to the
interprofessionnal employers' association for Morbihan murEe) Lyon (town
hall, 9th arrondissement) Paris DDASS(12)
Rennes treasury (briefly) Some of the associations of the unemployed received
at the Prime Minister's office.

9 Jan : Expulsions -- Châtellerault, Lyon town hall, Colmar.
Occupations -- Metz Chamber of Commerce and Industry Caen CAS (followed by
eviction later the same day) Voluntary evacuations -- Assedics in Bourges,
Ajaccio, Dole, Nancy, Voiron, Amiens, Argenteuil, Bagnols-sur-Cèze,
Romans-sur-Isère and, following a judicial decision, St-Etienne du
Rouvray CAS in 11th arrondissement, Paris By the evening, 18 sites
altogether are still occupied, compared with 28 in the morning. Prime
Minister Lionel Jospin appears on television to demand that the occupied
establishments be allowed to "function normally" and to announce his famous
billion (1,000 million) francs for emergency assistance.

10 Jan : 20 evictions, some with physical violence, including Metz (CCI),
Nantes (Assedic), Arras (Assedic occupied for 27 days), Grenoble (Assedic),
Gennevilliers, Montbéliard, Poissy, Marseille, Limoges. New
occupations -- Lyon (former job centre, now a Crédit Lyonnais)
Cherbourg (Chambre of Commerce and Industry) Auch (action around free
transport) Besançon (Socialist Party deputy detained for several
hours, then job centre).

11 Jan : Voluntary evacuation of Cherbourg CCI. Expulsions from Nantes CCAS
and Paris DDASS.

12 Jan : New occupations -- Nancy (building of the Association of French
Stock Exchanges) Cherbourg CCAS Strasbourg town hall, until the next day
Toulouse AFPA,(13)
followed by expulsion Nantes (town hall, then CCI) Reims (Assedic, evacuated
voluntarily) Limoges and Brest town halls Vitry/Seine (requisition of
resources in a supermarket) As of 6pm, a total of 34 establishments were
occupied or had been the object of co-ordinated actions. Some of these
received little media coverage since they took place in small towns like St
Girons, Voiron, Flers and Remiremont.

13 Jan : Second national day of action, affecting 76 departments and
involving almost 50,000 demonstrators. New occupations -- Arras (2 empty
buildings belonging to the electricity company) Nantes (FNAC,(14) followed by expulsion) Reims (job
centre, then town hall; each evacuated "voluntarily") Lyon (requisitioning
in a supermarket and occupation of the FNAC) Mulhouse Socialist Party office
Toulouse (electricity company, evacuated "voluntarily") Paris (Commodities
Exchange, evacuated "voluntarily") Voluntary evacuation by those in
occupation of the electricity company payments centre in Toulouse.

14 Jan : Occupations -- Alès: Chamber of Trade Bordeaux: electricity
company buildings Paris: the ENS(15) at 45 rue d'Ulm (5th).
Nantes: a job centre (briefly) and a tobacco factory Expulsions -- Troyes Chamber
of Commerce and Industry Lorient (tax office) St Etienne du Rouvray (job centre)

15 Jan : Occupations -- town halls at St Brieuc, Guingamp, Lannion and Lille
Paris, a building belonging to the Ministry of Research and an electricity
company office Expulsions -- Metz (employers association) Nancy (SBF)(16).

16 Jan : Occupations -- Colombes, job centre (expelled during the day)
Harfleur Assedic (expelled during the day) Toulouse, family allowance
bureau. At the same time, the national and departmental director was
detained. The office was exacuated voluntarily Limoges Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (following the voluntary evacuation of the town hall Paris,
Sciences-Po.(17) Also in Paris, we were invited to the New Year's
address given by the mayor Jean Tiberi.

17 Jan : Third national day of demonstrations in almost 30 towns. As of
today, almost 20 sites are occupied, including the town halls in Grenoble,
Brest and Guingamp; the Socialist Party offices in Mulhouse; a derelict
building in Nancy; the former job centre in Lyon, the ENS in Paris
(re-occupied after the demonstration when 150 people forced their way
through a police cordon); electricity company premises in Paris and
Clermont-Ferrand, where activists had been camping in the street since their
eviction. Also in Paris, resources were requisitioned at the restaurant La
Coupole and then the Hotel Lutécia. The Sciences-Po was evacuated
"voluntarily".

19 Jan : Collective acts of reappropriation in a Monoprix supermarket at
Nantes, and -- following the disruption of a lecture by the vice president
of the CNPF -- in a brasserie in Strasbourg Occupations -- electricity
company offices in Limoges and Bagnols/Cèze Haute-Garonne county
council CCI offices in St Dié, Montpellier et Alès Angers Film
Festival Toll road blocked at Reims. Requisition of resources from Fouquet's
in Paris; 83 detained. Arrest of 40 persons who had come to the Prefecture
in Paris to apply for emergency assistance. Expulsions -- Lyon (former job
centre, now employers' offices) Bordeaux (reoccupied Assedic) "Voluntary"
evacuation of the ENS in Paris.

20 Jan : New occupations -- Grand Quevilly town hall Toulouse (family
allowance agancy) Brest University (Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences)
Besanon (CCI) Clermont-Ferrand (lecture by Helmut Schmidt, former German
chancellor) Marseille (tax office and Assedic) Other actions took place in
Carcassonne, Morlaix and Grenoble. Expulsion from Brest town hall. However,
other occupations held firm in the local town halls in Quimper, Morlaix,
Lannion and Guingamp. In the National Assembly, Lionel Jospin announced that
he would not be increasing minimum benefit levels.

21 Jan : New occupations -- Nanterre (job centre) Paris (Economic and Social
Council, where 150 occupiers enjoyed a meal before being evicted) Nantes
(regional centre for information for young people; evacuated voluntarily) At
6:30am, "Act Up" woke up Jospin at his home. The associations of the
unemployed were received at the Socialist Party headquarters. On television,
Jospin announced 4 measures which fell far short of the demands of the
movement.

22 janvier : New occupations -- Paris (Socialist Party HQ, evacuated
"voluntarily") Nantes Stock Exchange. Documents were thrown around and 3
people detained for questioning) Toulouse (regional HQ of the bosses'
organisation).

23 Jan : New actions -- Quimper Beggars' Fair Nantes: occupation of a
socio-cultural centre and disruption of a dinner for the body that
administers public housing Paris (requisition of resources: photocopies,
supermarket).

24 Jan : Expulsion from Ajaccio Crédit Lyonnais New actions in
Villeurbanne (occupation of former DDTE) and Pantin (requisition of
resources in a Leclerc supermarket)

25 Jan : New actions in Metz -- requisition of housing.

(1) Assedics: Associations pour l'emploi dans l'industrie et le commerce
the organisation managing unemployment insurance payments.
(2) CGT: Confédération générale du travail
major French trade union.
(3) CNPF: Conseil national du patronat français
corresponding to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
(4) ASS: Allocation spécifique de solidarité
Social Security Benefit.
(5) CNAF: Caisse nationale des allocations familiales
national Family Allowance / Child Benefit agency.
(6) UNEDIC: Union nationale pour l'emploi dans l'industrie et le commerce
national organisation managing unemployment benefit schemes.
(7) CAS: Centre d'action sociale, social welfare centre.
(8) CFDT: Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, trade union.
(9) CCAS: Centre communal d'action sociale, community social welfare centre.
(10) TGV: Train à grande vitesse, high speed train.
(11) DDTE: Direction dpartementale du travail et de l'emploi.
(12) DDASS: Direction départmentale de l'action sanitaire et sociale
social services.
(13) AFPA: Association pour la formation professionnelle des adultes
adult professional educational association.
(14) FNAC. Chain of modernistic stores, selling CDs, multimedia, books, etc.
Equivalent to Virgin Megastores or Tower Records
(15) ENS: Ecole Normale Supérieure, prestigious teacher training college
(16) SBF. Don't know this one either.
(17) School of political science.
introduction - why/how - IRC - discussions
daily information - information by subject - links - contributions