Chaos as protests, strikes challenge Macron
PARIS — Tens of thousands of nurses, teachers and other public sector workers joined forces to march against French President Emmanuel Macron’s reforms on Thursday, causing widespread travel disruption and bringing brief clashes with police in some cities.
While the vast majority of around 180 demonstrations nationwide were peaceful, scuffles erupted between police and hooded young protesters in Paris and the western city of Nantes, where security forces fired tear gas and water cannons.
It was the first time public sector workers, ranging from air traffic controllers to civil servants, had joined with rail workers and pensioners to protest over the economic reforms Macron has sought to introduce since he took office in May.
About 323,000 public sector workers walked off the job, according to the Interior Ministry. Unions put the figure at 500,000.
In Paris, protesters denounced Macron’s proposals to trim some retirement benefits, overhaul unemployment insurance and shake up the highly indebted state-run rail company SNCF.
But only 13 percent of central government workers walked off the job, down marginally from an October strike, the government said, in a sign that unions may still be struggling to raise opposition against the president.
Turnout was much stronger amid railway staff, who halted 60 percent of fast trains and 75 percent of intercity services, while 30 percent of flights to and from Paris airports were canceled.
“It’s a real mess,” said Didier Samba, who missed his morning commuter train to the Paris suburbs and had more than an hour’s wait for the next.
Public sector workers are angry with plans to cut the public sector headcount by 120,000 by 2022, including via voluntary redundancies, and oppose the introduction of merit-based pay.
Railway workers are worried by plans to scrap jobfor-life guarantees and automatic annual pay rises.
Rail staff have planned a three-month rolling strike starting on April 3.
About 13.5 percent of teachers walked off the job, the government said, closing many primary schools. Electricity generation dropped by more than three gigawatts, the equivalent of three nuclear reactors’ output, as power workers joined the strike in sympathy.
Opinion polls show a paradox: A majority of voters back the strike but an even bigger majority back the reforms, including cutting the number of public sector workers and introducing merit-based pay.
That has led the government, which overhauled labor laws last year and is crafting other reforms, to say it will stand by its plans while keeping a close eye on protests.