"It's a lot to take in for a minister of the Republic to blame the unions, and therefore you who are mobilising, for the pandemic, the drought," says the head of the French hard-left CGT union Philippe Martinez, adding in a speech that "when we started on January 10 by saying 'it's a social justice reform', it means they're struggling,", a few days before a day of mobilisation against the pension reform. SOUNDBITE