France: strikes against pension reform continue

PARIS (AP) — Train and metro drivers, refinery workers, garbage collectors and other collectives staged strikes on Wednesday against French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64. , in a bid to keep the pressure on the government while the bill is debated in parliament.

Further protests focusing on women and the impact of the reform on working mothers are expected for Wednesday, coinciding with International Women’s Day. Feminist activists say the pension reform is unfair to women, not least because they say it would further deepen the gender inequality they face in their careers.

The continued strikes and protests come a day after more than a million protesters marched through towns and villages across France in what unions say is the biggest show of force against reform since the start. mobilizations in January.

The unions are demanding the withdrawal of the bill debated in the Senate this week.

Rail traffic and the Paris metro were still heavily impacted on Wednesday morning.

The national railway company, SNCF, said only one in three high-speed trains in the country are expected to run. Those going to Spain have been suspended and there have also been cancellations in those originating in or going to Britain and Belgium.

At Charles de Gaulle airport in the capital, a fifth of scheduled flights have been canceled, while at Orly around a third have been suspended.

Oil distribution at the national level was paralyzed for the second consecutive day due to strikes in the refineries of the groups TotalEnergies, Esso-ExxonMobil and Petroineosm, according to the CGT union.

The Paris garbage collectors decided to continue their strike on Wednesday.

In addition, strikers blocked access to the ports of the cities of Rouen and Le Havre, in the west of the country.

Macron has promised to move forward with the bill, which he touts as a key part of his business-friendly economic policy.

The reform would raise the official retirement age from the current 62 to 64 and would require that from 2030 it is necessary to have 43 years of work to be able to receive a full pension, in addition to other measures. The government indicates that the system will be in deficit in a decade due to the aging of the population and the increase in life expectancy.

Left-leaning lawmakers argue that wealthier individuals and corporations should contribute more to funding the retirement system.

Unions have called for a new day of protests across the country for Saturday.

On Thursday, youth organizations representing students who have not yet entered the labor market aim to mobilize young people to take to the streets and share their concerns about their pension rights.

Although the measure has a good chance of gaining final Senate approval, unions are hoping the strikes and protests will force the government to make concessions as the bill moves through the complicated French legislative process.