French unions and demonstrators took to the streets on Thursday in a wide-ranging protest motion against the government’s planned pension reforms.
President Emmanuel Macron’s administration is in search of to raise the official retirement age in France from 62 – lower than most of Europe and the US – to 64. That is the head of state’s second attempt to overhaul the pension system, after rejecting a 2019 proposal to introduce a pension plan point during his first term due to public uproar. Macron solidified his deal with pensions on this Recent Yr’s speech, insisting, “This can actually be the yr of retirement.”
Pension reform is “fair and responsible” and have to be carried out, Macron said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Early signs suggest the latest law is proving equally weak amongst the French public, with 68% appearing “hostile” to the measure, according to the IFOP study.
French syndicates created a rare united front by agreeing to protest against the bill.
“This reform will hit all employees fully, especially those that began work early, the most vulnerable, those whose life expectancy is shorter than the remainder of the population, and people whose level of labor difficulty is unrecognized,” the joint statement reads. . signed by eight syndicates, as translated by CNBC.
The organizations will meet on Thursday evening to determine whether further protests shall be called.
Rail operator SNCF warned that train travel could be “severely disrupted” due to industrial motion between 7pm local time on January 18 and 8am on Friday. Reuters reports that SNCF said just one in three to one in five high-speed TGV lines were running on Thursday, with limited local or regional trains.
Strikes disrupt traffic on the sea route between Calais and Dover.
“We regret to inform you that sailings are currently suspended due to National Motion Day in France.” P&O Ferries said on Twitternoting that services will resume on Thursday afternoon.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne estimated that a short-term one-day mobilization mustn’t lead to fuel shortages:
“Tomorrow day won’t affect the operation of the refinery. Refineries stop if there are lots of days of strike” he assessed in an interview with BFM TV, as translated by CNBC. “Don’t panic: supplies are full, gas stations well stocked.”
Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the union of the General Confederation of Labor (GCT), on 18th January presented the idea of cutting off electricity supplies to affluent France. On Thursday, he appeared to soften that stance during an interview with the Public Senate when he was asked if there could be voluntary targeted electricity cuts for lawmakers backing a latest retirement bill:
“We’re not in the habit of doing that,” he said, describing his earlier statements as a symbolic gesture, not a threat. He reiterated his reservations about the reform plan and stressed the syndicates’ willingness to proceed their strikes after the first day of business motion: “It’s the first day, so we’ll have one other.”
Government spokesman Oliver Veran on Wednesday charged the perceived threats as “strictly unacceptable,” according to CNBC’s translation:
He added: “Anything that can cause pressure, threats, insults, whether on social networks or in real life, regarding targeted actions against the integrity of the functioning of the parliamentary mandate, is unacceptable in a democracy and the Republic, and we condemn it. “
Laurent Bergere, general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), told BFM television on Thursday that “there have to be a whole lot of people at these protests.”
He noted: “First, I expect that the employees of this country who oppose, and there are lots of of them, this pension reform project – because they oppose with regard to [raising] official retirement age to 64 – protest throughout France, in 200 locations.