Editor TLN
France Live this Tuesday another day of strikes Y protests at the national level against the bill to reform the pensions. Striking workers have disrupted the activity of gas stations, public transport and schools on Tuesday in the second day of protests across the country against President Emmanuel Macron. that he intends to carry out a pension reform which provides for extending the working life of workers before accessing retirement. Going from the current 625 years to 64.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in various cities in France to demonstrate against a reform that they consider unfair.
The French government has deployed up to 11,000 agents throughout the country, 4,000 of them in Paris, fearing the Government that small groups of violent radicals could cause riots.
The two main unions in France assured that participation in the protests on Tuesday already exceeds that of January 19, when the first major day of demonstrations was held.
In statements to EFE, Laurent Berger, leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), the country’s first union, and Philippe Martínez, of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), asserted that today’s response day is ahead of the previous one, when between 1 and 2 million people took to the streets.
[Francia se echa a la calle contra Macron: histórica huelga general por la reforma de las pensiones]
“The figures that we handle is that, in all of France, there are more protesters than ten days ago. The discontent is well established,” said Martínez, without giving more details about the figures.
Tracing
Monitoring the strike will be important, especially in transport, since only one third of the high-speed trains (TGV) will circulate, on average.
On international rail lines there will be almost normal traffic on the Eurostars to London and on the Thalys to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, but the two trains in each direction of the Paris-Barcelona corridor have been cancelled.
It will also be very difficult to travel by public transport in the Paris metropolitan area since, depending on the lines, between two thirds and 90% of commuter trains have been abolished. The metro will only work at half throttle but the buses will be less affected.
The strikes by air traffic controllers have forced the cancellation of 20% of the flights to or from the Parisian airport of Orly.
In the case of Air France, this will result in the suppression of 10% of its flights for the day, although it has chosen to preserve all long-haul (intercontinental) flights and none of its routes with Spain will be affected either.
[Macron plantea subir la jubilación a los 64 años y los sindicatos convocan una huelga al instante]
The unions intend with this day of mobilizations to force the French Government to withdraw its reform, which plans to delay the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years and advance to 2027 the extension to 43 years (currently 42) of the contribution period necessary to collect a full pension.
They know they have the opinion publicsince all the opinion polls show a very large majority of French opposition to the project (61% according to a poll published today by the economic daily Them echoes).
This is a rejection that in general terms has not diminished since the Government presented its project, on January 10, even despite the multiplication of appearances by members of the Government in the media to insist on the need for reform to ensure the soundness of the pension system in the medium and long term.
In favor of the Executive, a majority of the French have no intention of mobilizing to prevent the reform (73% according to a survey last week).
Despite the pressure, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, made it clear last Sunday in an interview that the two star measures of the reform (the delay to 64 years of the minimum retirement age and the increase to 43 years of the period of contribution to have the full pension) are something that “is not negotiable”.
The text began to be studied this Monday in commission in the National Assembly, where the parties of the left and the extreme right are opposed, although the government bloc hopes to receive the necessary support from the conservatives to move it forward.
