Riots as French train drivers told they must work past 52
MASS protests in France descended into violence yesterday as police used water cannon and tear gas against demonstrators. Hundreds of trains were cancelled as rail employees protested at plans to stop their right to retire at 52. Flights were cancelled and schools closed doors amid anger at President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed reforms. Civil servants walked out over demands for better pay and the prospect of 120,000 lost jobs by 2022. In Paris, protesters denounced Mr Macron’s proposals to trim retirement benefits, overhaul unemployment insurance and shake up the highly indebted state-run rail company SNCF, with some chanting: ‘Together, let us derail Macron!’ Francoise Rauch, 65, a former rail worker, said: ‘We’re here against the government, which is only helping the rich. ‘What this government is doing is simply not OK.’ About 323,000 public sector workers walked off the job, according to the interior ministry. Unions put the figure at 500,000. Workers with the state- run SNCF rail firm turned out in large numbers – meaning just two of every five high- speed TGV trains were running and half of regional trains were cancelled. Four Eurostar services between London and Paris were cancelled, as were about a quarter of the trains serving other foreign destinations. Employees are aggrieved at the cutting of perks such as free travel for family members. A pro- posed shake-up of the pension scheme would affect nearly 200,000 workers, in particular train drivers who can retire as early as age 52, a decade before the state pension age of 62. Striking air controllers resulted in the cancellation of about 30 per cent of flights to and from Paris airports. The strikes were the start of possibly months of protests after rail unions announced stoppages on two days out of every five between the beginning of April and June. France’s once fearsome unions have regularly forced governments into policy U-turns in the past, but Mr Macron and his ministers have vowed not to yield. Yesterday was deliberately chosen to echo the start of student protests in 1968 that led to a crippling strike that paralysed the country and culminated in notorious street battles between police and demonstrators. In January 2016, taxi drivers, air traffic controllers, civil servants and teachers walked out in pro-
‘We need more public servants’
test over eroding jobs and pay. In May the same year, riot police battled protesters in Paris over labour law reforms. However, only around one in ten civil servants took part in yesterday’s demonstrations, which was down from 13 per cent on an October strike against labour reform, French government sources said. Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT union, said: ‘We agree that we need to make changes to public services, but not to restrain them, to improve them. We need more public servants.’