Unions threaten to “paralyze” France in march against pension reform

The unions threatened this Saturday to “paralyze” France in March, if President Emmanuel Macron “does not listen” to the majority rejection of the population to his pension reformin full day of new massive demonstrations.

“If despite all the government and the legislators continue not to listen to the popular rejection, the inter-union will call (…) to paralyze all sectors in France next March 7″, said the leader of the FO center, Frédéric Souillot.

The warning took place in the framework of a fourth day of protests in France since the beginning of the year. Pending official data, the CGT union announced 500,000 protesters in Paris, where there were some incidents with the police.

The objective is for the government to withdraw its proposal to delay the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 and to bring forward to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years (and not 42 as now) in order to receive a full pension.

A majority of French–two out of three, according to polls–oppose the reform, with which the government seeks to bring the retirement age closer to that of its neighbors in Europe and avoid a future deficit in the pension fund.

“I find it hard to believe that the government will not listen to this important rejection” in a “difficult context” of inflation for citizens, Gaëlle Leroy-Careto, 47, told AFP at the march held in Paris in a festive atmosphere.

This social worker came with her husband, her daughter, her sister and her nephew. “We are demonstrating for our pensions and that of our children,” said the woman, recalling that in 2010 she had already gone from 60 to 62 years old and predicting that within 10 she could go to 70.

The January 31 demonstrations — between 1.27 and 2.8 million people — were the largest against social reform in France in three decades, but the government did not back down. This Saturday, the police expect between 600,000 and 800,000 people.

“Lock down the economy”

Everything now points to a hardening of the protest as of March 6, when the winter school holidays end. After another strike on February 16, the first major action of this cycle change is expected on March 7.

Los unions of the public transport of Paris called this Saturday for an extendable strike in the RATP as of that day to “block the economy” and the CGT union center already spoke of a similar measure in the train service.

The last time a pension reform was halted in France was in 1995, when center-right Prime Minister Alain Juppé had to back down after a general strike that paralyzed transport for three weeks.

Unexpectedly, a strike by controllers forced the cancellation of half the flights scheduled at Orly airport on Saturday afternoon.

The day before, the 45-year-old centrist president asked the unions for “responsibility” for not blocking the country and wanted the debate to take place in Parliament, estimating that “this is how democracy should work.”

Tension is highest in the Assembly (lower house) between the left-wing opposition Nupes and Macron’s alliance, which lacks an absolute majority and awaits the support of the right-wing opposition Los Republicanos (LR) for its reform under review.

But he has an ace up his sleeve. The chosen parliamentary method allows you to apply it from the end of March, if the two chambers of Parliament (Assembly and Senate) do not get to vote on it before the thousands of amendments presented.

“Whatever the result of this reform, there is no doubt that the executive will come out weakened in public opinion and it is not at all clear that the oppositions (especially Nupes) will come out stronger,” the Odoxa polling company estimated on Thursday.

The unions fear that the adoption of the measure will generate “social despair” that will benefit the extreme right at the polls. The far-right Marine Le Pen, opposed to the reform, already contested the runoff against Macron in 2017 and 2022.

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