Macron faces no-confidence vote as strikes trash up Paris streets

After trying to raise the national retirement age, French President Emmanuel Macron’s government faces a no-confidence vote while uncollected trash piles up throughout Paris.

Weeks of protest preceded Monday afternoon’s proposed vote, where Macron’s critics are unlikely to get enough support to wrestle power away from the French leader reelected in April, according to CNBC.

Workers throughout France, including sanitation employees, have used labor strikes to deter Macron’s administration from raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 for most workers by 2030. Government officials argue the change is necessary to keep France’s pension system solvent.

The no-confidence vote against Macron’s government was proposed Friday by a coalition of moderates and liberals. The far-right National Rally is also pushing for the ouster, CNBC reports. Macron’s opponents would need 287 out of 577 National Assembly votes to force Macron to appoint a new prime minister or call new elections. Should Macron’s opponents fall short, France’s retirement age will likely be raised.

France 24 said Parisian streets were covered in 10,000 tons of trash before the weekend began, prompting France’s Interior Minister to enact an emergency powers edict ordering garbage collectors back on the job. Paris’ socialist mayor’s office said immediately afterward it saw no garbage trucks on the streets following that order.

Sanitation workers — whose retirement age would leap from 57 to 59 —went on strike and blocked incinerators two weeks ago, according to France 24. Private companies were reportedly working to pick up some of the slack.

According to The New York Times, it’s been 65 years since a French cabinet was last ousted by a no-confidence motion.