(Bloomberg) — French unions are leading another round of strikes and protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform, capitalizing on broad public support for a movement that has caused trash to pile up on the streets of Paris and sporadically turned violent.
(Bloomberg) — French unions are leading another round of strikes and protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform, capitalizing on broad public support for a movement that has caused trash to pile up on the streets of Paris and sporadically turned violent.
The bill to raise France’s minimum retirement age to 64 from 62 has already passed parliament, but unions are betting they can still force a U-turn. They continue to rally record turnouts at nationwide marches, tapping into rising anger after the government dodged a National Assembly vote by using a provision known as Article 49.3.
Protesters are also seeking to maintain pressure ahead of a ruling by the Constitutional Council on the conformity of the reform due on April 14.
Rail operator SNCF said to expect disruption on many lines, and the DGAC civil aviation authority asked airlines to reduce flights by 20% at some regional airports including Marseille-Provence and Bordeaux. Garbage collectors have returned to work in Paris but plan to resume open-ended strikes April 13.
“By not responding to the demand to withdraw the bill and by using 49.3, the executive has chosen to aggravate the democratic and social crisis,” the leading French unions said in a statement calling for action on Thursday.
The conflict over pensions is threatening to engulf Macron’s agenda of pro-business economic reforms that he has led since first taking office in 2017. Backing down at this late stage of the legislative process would be a hobbling political defeat, yet going ahead risks cementing his lack of majority in parliament and destroying relations with unions that the government needs to work with on future overhauls.
The political debacle is also benefiting the far-right National Rally party. According to one survey by Ifop of 1,105 adults March 30-31, if there were a presidential election this weekend, perennial nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen would lead the first round of voting against any of Macron’s allies with as much as 36% of the vote. He cannot run for a third term in 2027.
Read more: Macron Loses Voters to Far Right Over Pensions, Poll Shows
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a meeting with the leaders of France’s main unions in an attempt to discuss future changes to labor laws. They walked out after less than an hour as she refused their demands to drop the pension reform.
“We got the impression we’re not living in the same world,” Force Ouvriere head Frederic Souillot said on BFM TV. “We will discuss nothing until this reform is withdrawn.”
Macron’s government says raising the pension age is vital to boost employment rates and halt the build-up of deficits in the massive public retirement system as the population ages. Unions say changing the age thresholds to claim a full pension will disproportionately penalize the least well-off and that there are other options to balance the system, including higher taxes on business and the wealthy.
“The government is betting on a sense of resignation and the protests running out of steam: they’re not,” Sophie Binet, the new leader of the CGT union, told reporters Wednesday after the meeting with Borne. “There is profound anger, a clear rejection of this reform that keeps growing.”
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