French unions have called for
a show of force with a final day of strikes and protests in the run-up to a
crucial vote on Emmanuel Macron’s fiercely contested pensions overhaul in
parliament.
The call for an
eighth day of national mobilisation on Wednesday comes as rubbish piles up in Paris and
a number of other French cities after continuing strikes by refuse collectors
who oppose the bill that will increase the official retirement age from 62 to
64.
The legislation
would not only raise the retirement age but also increase the number of years
of contributions needed to claim a full pension.
Opinion polls
suggest up to 70% of French people oppose the changes, but a poll by Ifop found
71% are resigned to the bill being passed. The same poll found 56% of those
asked considered protesters and strikers were justified in bringing France to a
standstill in the run-up to Thursday’s vote.
The transport
minister, Clément Beaune, said there would be disruption to public transport
and flights, but it was unlikely to be a “Black Wednesday”.
“There should not
be the same level of disruptions as with previous mobilisations,” Beaune said.
The upper house, the Sénat, approved the
bill on Saturday sending it back to the National Assembly.
Union leaders and opposition MPs are furious that a 28-member cross-party
parliamentary commission that will thrash out a final compromise on the bill
will [met] behind closed doors on Wednesday.
Mathilde Panot of
the radical left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), which tabled 13,000
amendments to the bill in an attempt to halt it, told the Parliamentary
Channel: “It’s interesting that at a time when many aspects of the bill haven’t
been discussed that citizens can know what is going on.”
About 6,600 tonnes
of rubbish was estimated to have built up in Paris on Tuesday as the city’s
refuse collectors voted to continue their strike until Monday. The powerful CGT
union said in a statement that workers in refuse, water, sewage and sanitation
sectors of the City of Paris would be stepping up their action.
If the commission
agrees on a final text, the bill will return to the Sénat for approval on
Thursday morning before being sent back to the Assemblée nationale for a final
vote that afternoon.
Analysts say it is
a “high risk” week for Macron, whose credibility depends
on the legislation going through but who is facing an additional challenge, as
his centrist government failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary
elections last June.
This leaves it with the choice
of doing deals with MPs from the rightwing Les Républicains, or forcing the
bill through using a constitutional tool called the 49:3 – a measure that
avoids an Assemblée nationale vote it risks losing.
Ministers have
said the government would not use the 49:3, widely condemned as undemocratic
and which risks inflaming a volatile public mood. Instead, there has been a
flurry of negotiations by ministers to guarantee a majority in the lower house.
Union leaders have
said using the 49:3 would lead to a hardening of opposition and would escalate
strikes.
The pension system is the keystone of France’s social model but is complicated and expensive. Attempts since the 1990s to overhaul it have caused nationwide protests and brought the country to a standstill.
-The
Guardian
Paris CNN — The French government has forced through controversial plans to raise the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64, a move likely to inflame the country’s weeks-long protest movement.
ReplyDeleteFrench President Emmanuel Macron will trigger special constitutional powers to enact the proposed pension reform bill, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced Thursday in the National Assembly, which had not yet voted on the proposal.
“We cannot bet on the future of our pensions,” Borne said amid jeers and chants from lawmakers. “This reform is necessary.”
Labor leaders in France called for new demonstrations following Borne’s announcement, with several thousand people converging at Paris’ Place de la Concorde and in several other cities in France on Thursday evening.
“By resorting to [constitutional article] 49.3, the government demonstrates that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year postponement of the legal retirement age,” tweeted Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, one of the unions leading the protests.
Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT trade union, also called for more strikes and protests, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Massive protests have been held regularly throughout France since mid-January, with millions turning out to voice their opposition to the government’s plan. Mass strikes have hit transport and education, while in the capital Paris uncollected garbage has been piling in the streets. Parisian streets littered with trash after wave of strikes...