Every Sunday, L’Usine Nouvelle takes stock of the week’s news through five images. On the program: the mobilization against the pension reform does not weaken, the Global Industrie fair seeks to attract young people and women to the sector, and the air base 118 of Mont-de-Marsan is testing its first Rafale to the F4 standard.
Strike against pension reform affects refineries
Demonstrating their dissatisfaction with the pension reform planned by the government, 1.28 million people beat the pavement in France on March 7 according to the Ministry of the Interior, and 3.5 million according to the CGT. In Seine-Maritime, the strike in the refineries of TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil extended to the industrial port platform of Le Havre, leading to the shutdown of production at the Renault plant in Sandouville. Tens of thousands of French people also demonstrated on March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, to protest against the multiple inequalities of which they are still victims.
The challenges of feminization invite themselves to Global Industrie
To achieve the 180,000 recruitments they plan to make in 2023 and 2024, the 32 branches of French industry will have no choice but to broaden their spectrum. The sector’s annual high mass, the Global Industrie fair, organized in Lyon from March 7 to 10, has thus tried to seduce young people and attract women, who represent only 30% of jobs in the sector. 5G, decarbonization and automation were also among the most discussed topics among exhibitors and visitors.
The latest generation Rafale enters experimentation
Air base 118 in Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) received its first Rafale at the F4 standard in early March, a modernization that improves its connectivity, its armament and facilitates its maintenance. Good news for its manufacturer Dassault Aviation, which announced this week 21 billion euros in order intake for the year 2022, against 12 billion in 2021. Its ramp-up is however slowed down by its subcontractors, weakened by component shortages and the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Start of installation work for the first floating wind turbines in France
RTE has announced that it has successfully completed the first key stage of the floating wind turbine project in the Gulf of Lion, in the Mediterranean. On Sunday March 5, the operators launched the sheath of the electric cable which will be connected to the terrestrial network. Operational at the end of 2023 / beginning of 2024, the three wind turbines of this park will each have a power of 10 MW.
McDonald’s is replacing its potatoes with vegetable fries
From March 7, McDonald’s is replacing its potatoes with carrot, parsnip and beet fries in its 1,500 French restaurants. Products for which McCain, one of its flagship suppliers, called on external skills. The work resulted in the cultivation of more than 3,200 tonnes of vegetables, at 25 farmers in the Hauts-de-France region, for a harvest at the end of 2022.
