Back to work: strikes and blockades for social justice
The month of September 2025 was marked by an unprecedented intensity of social mobilisation across Europe: renewable strikes in the energy sector (electricity, gas), strikes over purchasing power and job insecurity, and calls for massive blockades on 10 September. The federations and unions (CGT, Solidaires, Confédération paysanne) are defending higher wages, a halt to budget cuts and the extension of social protection. The grassroots movements are finding strong support from the forces of the left, who oppose austerity policies and reactionary excesses head-on.
The social and ecological alternative at the heart of the mobilisations
Trade union initiatives are accompanied by a rejection of anti-social measures and calls for climate justice: marches, pickets and self-organisation forums illustrate a profusion of demands for greater equality and dignity. Citizens’ mobilisations, fuelled by action by associations and trade unions, are putting pressure on governments to put social progress and the ecological transition at the top of the political agenda. Left-wing parties and collectives are demanding that no reform should be carried out without taking into account the needs and aspirations of the most vulnerable.
