Strikes, protests test French plan to raise retirement age
PARIS –
Workers in lots of French cities took to the streets Thursday to reject proposed pension modifications that will push again the retirement age, amid a day of nationwide strikes and protests seen as a significant take a look at for Emmanuel Macron and his presidency.
Demonstrations gathered 1000’s of individuals within the cities of Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Nantes, Lyon and different locations as strikes had been severely disrupting transport, faculties and different public providers throughout the nation.
French staff must work longer earlier than receiving a pension underneath the brand new guidelines — with the nominal retirement age rising from 62 to 64. In a rustic with an growing old inhabitants and rising life expectancy the place everybody receives a state pension, Macron’s authorities says the reform is the one option to maintain the system solvent.
Unions argue the pension overhaul threatens hard-fought rights, and suggest a tax on the rich or extra payroll contributions from employers to finance the pension system. Polls counsel most French individuals additionally oppose the reform.
More than 200 rallies are anticipated round France on Thursday, together with a big one in Paris involving all France’s main unions.
Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union, known as the federal government’s plans a “unfair” reform on BFMTV and known as on staff to “peacefully come (to the streets) to say they disagree.”
Police unions against the retirement reform are additionally participating, whereas those that are on responsibility are bracing for potential violence if extremist teams be a part of the demonstrations.
A majority of trains round France are cancelled, together with some worldwide connections, in line with the SNCF rail authority. About 20% of flights out of Paris’ Orly Airport are cancelled and airways are warning of delays.
Electricity staff pledged to cut back energy provides as a type of protest.
The ministry of National Education mentioned some 34 to 42% of academics had been on strike, relying on faculties. High faculty scholar unions had been anticipated to hitch the protests.
Thierry Desassis, a retired instructor, known as the federal government’s plan “an aberration.”
“It’s at 64 that you start having health problems. I’m 68 and in good health but I’ve started seeing doctors more often,” he mentioned.
The strike was additionally affecting some monuments. The Versailles Palace was closed on Thursday whereas the Eiffel Tower warned about potential disruptions and the Louvre Museum mentioned some exhibition rooms will stay closed.
Many French staff expressed combined feeling concerning the authorities’s plan and pointed to the complexity of the pension system.
Selim Draia, 48, an animation artist, mentioned some modifications could also be wanted “but rushing through it like this — I think the country is divided and polarized enough to take the time to have a conversation.”
Quentin Coelho, 27, a Red Cross worker, felt he needed to work Thursday regardless of understanding “most of the strikers’ demands.” With an growing old inhabitants within the nation, he mentioned, elevating the retirement age “isn’t an efficient strategy. If we do it now, the government could decided to raise it further in 30 or 50 years from now. We can’t predict.”
Coelho mentioned he does not belief the federal government and is already saving cash for his pension.
Liliane Ferreira Marques, a 40-year-old Brazilian saleswoman from Boussy-Saint-Antoine, south of Paris, mentioned she helps the strikers’ calls for however cannot afford to go on strike as a result of she is “paid barely the minimum wage.”
French Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt acknowledged “concerns” prompted by the pension plans that can require from staff “an additional effort.” He known as on strikers to not block the financial system of the nation. “The right to strike is a freedom, but we do not want any blockades,” he mentioned, talking on LCI tv.
Dussopt justified the selection to push again the retirement age as a result of the federal government rejected different choices involving elevating taxes — which he mentioned would damage the financial system and value jobs — or decreasing pension quantities.
The French authorities is formally presenting the pension invoice on Monday and it heads to Parliament subsequent month. Its success will rely partially on the size and length of the strikes and protests.
The deliberate modifications present that staff will need to have labored for at the very least 43 years to be entitled to full pension. For those that don’t fulfil that situation, like many ladies who interrupted their profession to lift their kids or those that studied for a very long time and began working late, the retirement age would stay unchanged at 67.
Those who began to work early, underneath the age of 20, and staff with main well being points could be allowed early retirement.
Protracted strikes met Macron’s final effort to lift the retirement age in 2019. He ultimately withdrew it after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
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AP Journalist Alexander Turnbull contributed to the story
