France experienced a new day of demonstrations against the pension reform on June 6, the fourteenth nationwide since last January. The unions mobilized in view of a possible debate in Parliament next Thursday on a bill to repeal the measure that increases the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. The rejection of the norm increased after President Emmanuel Macron approved it last March by decree, which exempted it from voting in the National Assembly.
First modification:
After two months of relative calm, French unions are trying to revive resistance against the pension reform.
With protests and the stoppage of activities, the workers’ organizations are trying to measure their forces, prior to an expected discussion in Parliament on Thursday, June 8, on a bill promoted by the opposition that seeks to repeal the controversial measure.
The most controversial point of the new law is the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years, change that would be made progressively until 2030, when the 64-year limit to obtain a pension would finally come into effect.
President Emmanuel Macron, defender of the measure, continues to argue that the modification is necessary to prevent the collapse of his country’s pension system due to the aging of the population.
But unions and opponents of the rule insist that the reform hurts the poorest workers and demand instead a tax increase for companies and the wealthiest people in the nation.
“Unionism has returned”
In the midst of the fourteenth great day of strikes, this Tuesday, June 6, some clashes broke out between protesters and police in Paris when thousands of people took to the streets to express their rejection of the norm.
In addition, a third of the flights at Orly Airport, just outside Paris, were cancelled, as well as around 10% of train travel across the country.
Tensions also escalated when dozens of members of the lto General Confederation of Labor (CGT) broke into the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and temporarily blocked the facilities.
“Trade unionism is back. It has returned not only to the streets, it has returned to the companies, it has returned to the membership figures (…) I think that the number of new members of the CFDT since the beginning of January is more than the total number of members of many political parties “said the union leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Laurent Berger.
The mobilizations also spread to other parts of the country, including Rennes, the capital of the province of Brittany, where between 5,000 and 10,000 people marched under the intense sun and the surveillance of police drones.
“The issue of the repeal of the pension reform, we must continue hammering it because behind it is the austerity policy, behind it are the rating agencies that kept us our AA, but on the condition that we continue hitting public services, social security . That is why today we are on strike and we are not giving up,” said Joël Garnier, undersecretary of the CGT’s Public Finance section, in Rennes.
These protest actions represent a last desperate cry with which the opponents of the norm seek to pressure legislators to reverse the legislation that also raises advance to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years to obtain a pension and not 42 years as has happened up to now.
“The game is not over”
Although the reform was widely unpopular from the beginning, social discontent rose after Macron approved it on March 16, above the vote in the National Assembly, through the application of article 49.3 of the Magna Carta.
Despite the fact that it was a constitutional measure, many point to it as undemocratic for dodging the pronouncement of the Lower House, where it was expected that the ruling party would not obtain the necessary votes for its approval. A month later, the initiative was endorsed by the French Constitutional Council and less than 24 hours later, on April 15, Macron officially promulgated the law.
Although the anger in the streets has been diminishing since the great protest of May 1, now nearly two months after its promulgation, many are trying to burn the last cartridge against the norm that has caused some of the largest protests in history. French.
“The game is not over (…) “No, the chips are not cast! Another debate is coming in the Chamber. We are going to take it until the last minute, until the last second,” said the leader of the extreme on Thursday French leftist and former presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in response to the CFDT union leader, when in a less optimistic tone he expressed that the protests were coming to an end.
“Something extraordinary has happened and it will leave an indelible mark on the minds of the French because rarely have we seen a social movement of such magnitude. It is the largest in half a century. Rarely have we seen such unanimity expressed in public opinion, polls and interviews (…) People from various social circles, and even politicians, agreeing that there is a way of life that a mass of French people no longer want”, remarked Mélenchon.
Now, attention is focused on the proposal presented by the legislators of the LIOT center opposition party, which seeks to restore the retirement age to 62 years. Although the Renaissance party, to which the president belongs, does not have a majority in the National Assembly, he has allied with the conservative Republican Party to reject opposition efforts.
With AFP, AP and Reuters
#Protests #France #unions #burn #cartridge #pension #reform