Unions call for show of force against Macron’s pension reform

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) – Trash is piling up in Paris, liquefied natural gas operations are suspended and train services canceled on Wednesday, as unions call for a show of force against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform which is approaching its final stages in Parliament.

A broad alliance of unions has called for an eighth day of street protests across France since mid-January to challenge Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.

The pension reform bill is before a joint parliamentary committee where lawmakers from the lower and upper houses will seek an agreed text on Wednesday before a final vote in the Senate and National Assembly on Thursday.

Macron’s party faces a last-minute fight to secure enough votes in the Assembly, where it lacks its own absolute majority and will have the backing of the conservative Les Républicains party, although its ranks are split on the question.

“In the National Assembly, there will be no easy vote, no panic,” government spokesman Olivier Veran told Europe 1 radio.

Macron and his government say changes to the pension system, one of the most generous among industrialized countries, are needed to keep the pension budget in the black. What’s at stake for the president, however, is not just financial gain, but also his reformist credentials.

Senior ruling party officials acknowledge that the numbers for the vote are tight.

In the event that the vote should be very tight, the government could resort to a so-called 49:3 procedure, which would allow it to approve the text in Parliament without putting it to a vote. This way, it could provoke anger in the streets, but it would avoid a possible vote of no confidence in Parliament if the vote fails.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told the Assembly on Tuesday that she wanted a vote to take place, while the unions held firm.

“This reform is unfair, brutal and massively rejected by public opinion,” Laurent Berger, boss of the reformist union CFDT, told BFM TV.

More than 6,000 tonnes of rubbish have accumulated in Paris, where municipal garbage collectors have extended their strike for a second week. The energy sector was also affected.

The blockages of four liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals have been extended, according to Elengy, a subsidiary of Engie, and commercial sources.

Several LNG carriers bound for France have been redirected to other terminals in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain since the start of the strike, and closing the terminals for another week would significantly affect France’s capacity to export gas to neighboring countries.

TotalEnergies said deliveries from its oil refineries and fuel depots remained blocked. The Fos d’Esso refinery was also unable to evacuate the products.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Forrest Crellin and Benjamin Mallet; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Christina Fincher, Editing in Spanish by José Muñoz)