While France is still under the influence of some pickets and indefinite strikes in protest against the pension reform, the unions requested this Thursday in a letter to meet with the president of the country, Emmanuel Macron, who was warned of “an explosive situation” if you don’t withdraw your plan.

In the letter sent to the Élysée Palace, the union organizations demand an interview with Macron to prevent the “serious consequences” of the “silence” of the Executive, which maintains raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 considering it essential to clean up the pension system.

“For us, the unions, this lack of response represents a serious democratic problem and it will lead to a situation that can become explosive”, they warned. The workers’ representatives recalled that the reform is widely unpopular and cited as an example the successful protests and strikes organized on January 19 and 31; on January 7, 11 and February 16; and last Tuesday, March 8.

Since this last mobilization, considered “historic” by the unions, although it did not paralyze the country, several sectors continue on partial strike or have organized pickets. Among the most striking actions, the power outage carried out by trade unionists at the Estadio de France and in the area of ​​the Olympic village works for the Paris 2024 Games, which affected adjacent commercial and residential areas.

However, the energy distribution company, Enedis, denied the cut at the Estadio de France (located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris). Another key sector affected by the mobilization against the pension reform is energy. There were pickets that prevented the transport of fuel to the gates of several French refineries.

So far, there has been no shortage of supplies, as happened last autumn in another strike organized by workers in the sector, although some service stations are beginning to have problems. In transport, the air continues to be the most impacted, with the cancellation of between 20 and 30% of flightswhile the frequency of trains continues to be disturbed, although it has improved compared to previous days.

Tons of uncollected garbage in Paris

In Paris, the incidence of unemployment in the metro and public buses has been improving. In the capital, however, half of the neighborhoods tons of garbage accumulate in the streets due to the strike of the cleaning workers, who support the protests against the pension reform.

At least 1,800 tons of waste are still in the street due to a strike that is called, for now, until tomorrow, Friday, according to the French press. Faced with the increase in odors and the proliferation of rats, the conservative Geoffroy Boulard, mayor of the 17th district, has proposed to the mayoress of the city, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, that she hire private companies for the collection, a proposal that, according to Boulard, has not received a response so far.

Also in Paris, at least a thousand students demonstrated again against the pension reform.

Kilometric queues at the border crossing with Spain

Another of the most symbolic pickets took place at the border crossing with Spain in Le Perthus (near the Catalan town of La Jonquera), where the unions organized a protest against the pension reform that caused kilometric queues.

The French gendarmes had to intervene to unblock the motorway at 10:30 local time (9:30 GMT), after two hours of protest. Nearly 300 demonstrators participated in it, summoned by the French trade union centers to pressure the Government to withdraw its pension reform project, still in the parliamentary phase, now in the Senate.