As wages lag behind rising prices, strikes for higher pay are bubbling up across France. In the most high-profile of these struggles, workers at Total and ExxonMobil refineries have sought a 10 percent wage hike, with employer opposition ushering in a nationwide fuel shortage. But they’ve been joined in recent weeks by bus drivers, subway conductors, warehouse workers, secondary school teachers, nuclear plant operators, supermarket cashiers, and others — and the street pressure is mounting.

In October, France’s united left coalition, the Nouvelle Union Populaire Écologique et Sociale (NUPES), organized its own protest march in Paris “against the high cost of living and climate inaction.” Led by the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), the more militant of France’s two major labor confederations, unions have led several days of nationwide protests and strikes: September 29; October 18; October 27. They’re gearing up for another one on November 10.

For more insight into the strikes and France’s turbulent political conjuncture, Jacobin’s Cole Stangler spoke with the general secretary of the CGT, Phillipe Martinez. They discussed the current industrial action, the importance of broadening the confederation’s traditional sources of strength, its relationship with the parties of the NUPES parliamentary coalition, and why Martinez believes in international solidarity, from Palestine to Ukraine.