Last-gasp strikes seek to prevent pension reform
PARIS: France faced another day of strikes yesterday over highly contested pension reforms which President Emmanuel Macron appears on the verge of pushing through despite months of protests.
As the legislation enters the final stretch in parliament, trade unions were set to make another attempt to pressure the government and lawmakers into rejecting the proposed hike in the retirement age to 64.
The last day of protests on Saturday saw a far lower turnout than in the previous rounds, while strikes from railway, refinery and public sector workers last week did not paralyse the country in the way that unions had hoped.
The most visible impact of the standoff so far has been the accumulation of rubbish in the streets of Paris, where garbage collectors and street cleaners have stopped work.
“We won’t have the same level of disturbances of public transport as during previous protest days,” Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Tuesday.
The main suspense is whether Mr Macron’s minority government can muster the required number of votes in parliament, where it will need the support of the opposition Republicans party (LR) in order to pass the legislation. A joint vote from the National Assembly and the Senate could come as early as today.
Mr Macron’s flagship proposal would raise the minimum retirement age from its current level of 62 to 64, bringing France more into line with its EU neighbours, most of which have pushed back the retirement age to 65 or higher.
The law also hikes the requirements for a full pension and would abolish the retirement privileges enjoyed by some public-sector employees, such as those at the Paris Metro.
After initially claiming it was intended to make the system fairer, the government now emphasises that it is about savings and avoiding deficits in the coming decades.
In a speech to MPs on Tuesday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne insisted that there was a majority in parliament for the changes, appealing to LR lawmakers who have long championed pension reform.