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Thousands of French people took to the streets again this February 16 to protest against a labor reform that they consider harmful to the interests of workers and that the Government of Emmanuel Macron refuses to modify. It is the fifth day of protests against the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years and against the increase in the number of years of contribution necessary to collect a full pension. Although the protests have been numerous, they have had less influx than in the previous calls.
The French took to the streets again to protest against the labor reform proposed by the Government of Emmanuel Macron that seeks to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. A situation that all the unions in the French nation have opposed and that has led to the organization of protest marches in recent weeks, without the Government having changed its position so far.
This February 16 there have been protests in the main cities of the country, although there has been a decrease in the number of attendees. This is the fifth day of protests since all the unions decided to go on strike in a sectoral manner after the Government’s announcement on pensions.
The novelty of this day has been in the French city of Albí, a town in the south of the country historically linked to socialism for being the birthplace of the iconic socialist politician Jean Jaurès. Union leaders from all over the country gathered there to protest and make visible the transversality of their claim and offer a vision outside of Paris.
From there, Laurent Berger, leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), warned that “clearly, the government must listen to what is happening and betting on a possible loss of momentum of the movement is crazy.”
For his part, Philippe Martínez, from the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) stressed that “the mobilization continues and the determination is greater than ever.”
None of the union leaders have been discouraged by the follow-up drop to Thursday’s strike and they highlight the success despite the fact that a part of France is on vacation. According to data from local media such as ‘BFMTV’, the follow-up to the strike could have been reduced by almost half in some sectors such as the railway, where it went from 25% to 14%.
In addition to delaying the retirement age, the reform contemplates increasing the number of years of contribution from 42 to 43 in order to collect the full pension and the advance from 2035 to 2027 for these rules to be effective.
The reform is debated in the French Parliament
The Government of Emmanuel Macron hides behind the unsustainability of the current public system in the face of the imminent mass retirement of the generation known as the ‘baby boom’, the largest in Europe and to which those born between the late 1950s and the the 1960s. This issue means that, linked to the current low birth rate, the system may have decompensations.
During these weeks, the Lower House of the French Parliament is debating the proposal and the unions plan to keep the pulse in the streets until reaching the summit date of March 7, when the bill is debated in the Senate. At that time, a large union mobilization in protest is expected.
There is nothing to suggest that the Government will back down on its proposal despite the protests. Although syndicalism in France is an important power force, it has lost influence in recent decades.
With EFE and Reuters
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