A May 1 protest in France against pension reform

France lived this Monday a May 1 with new massive protests against the pension reform, in a context of concern about inflation, which has caused strikes and demonstrations around the world in recent months.

“It’s a great May 1st. It is not the end of the fight, it is the protest of the world of work against this reform”, stressed the leader of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, at the beginning of the demonstration in Paris on the occasion of International Workers’ Day.

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated again in France against the delay in the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, which the liberal president Emmanuel Macron approved by decree and wants to apply from September.

Since the start of the social conflict in January, the second largest economy in the European Union (EU) has focused world attention. This Monday, union representatives from Korea, Turkey, Colombia and Spain, among others, were present in Paris.

“It is not about preserving pensions in France, but throughout the world. People should be able to retire with dignitysaid David Huerta, 56, a representative of the US services union SEIU-USWW.

The pension reform in France has called into question the importance given to work in the lives of citizens, after the COVID pandemic and its confinements, and in full concern about the climate crisis.

“COVID was a kind of revelation and crisis of work, an ethical questioning to the weight of it”, summarized the sociologist Marc Loriol on France Inter radio in January, days after the start of the protests in France.

Environmental activists sprayed paint on the façade of the Louis Vuitton Foundation and the headquarters of the French Ministry of Justice, in the famous Place Vendôme, to denounce, in the latter case, a “law [de las pensiones] ‘climateicide’”.

But to this was added global concerns about purchasing power, given the increase in food and energy prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The United Kingdom, where inflation exceeds 10%, is experiencing, for example, a wave of social movements to demand an increase in wages, both in public services and in the private sector.

This demand was also present in the demonstrations held in Europe, from Portugal to Greece, especially when it has already caused demonstrations or sectoral strikes in recent months in several countries, including Canada and Argentina.

“Even with 5% [de aumento salarial], it’s complicated. If prices were at that level, perhaps one could continue living, but they have risen much more”, said Runold Jacobskötter, a 67-year-old retiree, during a protest on Monday in Berlin.

Invitation

In France, the unions are determined to continue the fight against a reform “unfair” who consider that it punishes women who interrupted their career to take care of their children, and for those who started working very young.

Although the protests on May 1 were the most numerous on this holiday in years, they do not appear to reach the level of mobilization at the beginning of March. The marches registered clashes with the police in Paris, Nantes and other cities.

The way out of the crisis seems difficult. Unions expect the Constitutional Council to validate on Wednesday a request by the left-wing opposition to organize a referendum limiting the retirement age to 62, after rejecting a similar proposal.

Macron, who defends the reform as a way to avoid a future deficit in the pension fund, seeks for his part to relaunch his second term until 2027. But on his visits to France he is not without pans and boos.

One of the points on their roadmap to overcome the conflict is to negotiate an improvement in working conditions, but the unions have not yet decided whether they will attend the meeting together that Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will propose to them soon.

The imposition of the reform caused a deterioration in the confidence of the French in Macron and in the institutions, a situation that, according to polls, benefits the far-right deputy Marine Le Pen.

Source: AFP