Unions in France intensify protest against pension reform

Protests against the liberal president’s pension reform Emmanuel Macron intensified this Tuesday in France with the blockade of fuel, canceled trains, closed schools and the threat of prolonging the strikes until the withdrawal of the unpopular project.

“We have managed to show the determination of the world of work”, government “You can’t keep turning a deaf ear.”said CFDT union leader Laurent Berger, who held a “historical mobilization” at the beginning of the demonstration in Paris.

The second economy of the European Union (EU) lives its sixth day of strike since January 19 at the call of the unions to protest against the tightening of the conditions to access a full pension promoted by the Macron government.

The day dawned with blocked roads from Rennes (west) to Perpignan (south), with the suspension of the shipment of fuel from all refineries and power cuts “wild”, according to the company Enedis, in Boulogne-sur-Mer (north).

“We will not give up (…) We have to impact the government so that it gives in”said Patrick, a 61-year-old railway retiree, who demonstrated in the rain with some 6,000 other people, according to the unions, in Calais (north).

The objective is “paralyze” the economy. On Monday, strikers paralyzed three of the four methane terminals for “seven days” and, since Friday, they have caused electricity production to fall in the nuclear sector.

The unions intensify their pulse after weeks of unsuccessful peaceful protests, including the most important in three decades against a social reform on January 31 with 1.27 million people, according to the police (2.8 million, for the CGT).

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne described Monday night as “irresponsible” this strategy and is now focused on discrediting the opposition movement after failing to convince them of the need for reform.

Two out of three French people, according to polls, oppose his plan to delay the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 and bring forward to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years (and not 42, as now) to collect a pension complete.

But raising one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe seeks, according to the government, to avoid a future deficit in the pension fund, in a context of increasing life expectancy of the population.

The last time the French managed to stop a pension reform was in 1995. The unions paralyzed train and metro services for three weeks and managed to maintain massive support in public opinion.

“Luckily, there is the grandmother”

Pending official and union data, a police source said they expected between 1.1 and 1.4 million protesters this Tuesday. Unions expect twice as much. The demonstrations held in the morning point to a mobilization similar to January 31.

However, the percentage of people on strike was lower than that registered at the beginning of the movement, especially among train service workers (39% at noon according to the unions) and teachers (a third, according to the government).

This did not prevent the train service and public transport in Paris from being “very disturbed” and that thousands of schools closed in France, forcing many workers to look for alternatives for childcare.

“They don’t have a choice. Luckily, there is the grandmother ”, told AFP Michèle, a 75-year-old retiree in Bordeaux (southwest), who must take care of her granddaughter this Tuesday.

Macron is playing a significant part of his political credit, after the pandemic forced him to abandon a previous reform during his first term, also marked by the social protest of the “yellow vests”.

In the absence of an official majority in Parliament, the government chose a controversial procedure that allows it to apply it from the end of March, if the two chambers have not ruled on it in the same terms.

Time is pressing for opponents. The unions must decide on Tuesday night the next steps, although strikes are already expected on Wednesday in sectors such as transport or education, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Source: AFP