three million take to the streets and threaten to return

In the balance, it must be taken into account that it is not only the number of protesters, but also that during the day the railway, oil and educational sectors have carried out important strikes. Something that demonstrates the strength that the unions of the neighboring country have.

If anyone had doubts about the ability to convene, the newspaper the world pointed out this Tuesday that the number of people who have taken to the streets in the main cities of France was the same or even greater than that of the protests on January 19. All of them have demonstrated to say “no” to Macron’s plan to extend the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. The pressure from the street faces the determination of the Elysee, which maintains that the reform will go ahead.

[La inflación de Francia escala hasta el 6% en enero y el PIB frenó su expansión al 0,1% en el cuarto trimestre del 2022]

However, the agency Reuters reveals that polls indicate that the majority of the French are against the new law. A measure that Macron considers “vital” to ensure the viability and survival of the pension system.

“The world of work says it loud and clear, in the biggest protest in 25 years, it does not want an increase in the minimum retirement age,” he told efe Laurent Berger, leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), the country’s first union.

At the head of the Parisian demonstration with other union leaders, including Philippe Martinezfrom the combative General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the conveners claimed 500,000 participants, compared to the 400,000 calculated twelve days ago.

Many cities

The one in Paris was the largest among the 250 protests called throughout France, followed by the one in Marseille (south). There, the Prefecture estimated 40,000 demonstrators (205,000 unions), still more than on January 19, when the first of a series of mobilizations against the pension reform took place.

The goal of the unions is, as in 1995 during the presidency of the conservative Jacques Chiracachieve that social pressure is such that it prevents the implementation of a pension reform.

figures dance

On the other hand, unions and the Executive became involved in the traditional battle for the figures for monitoring the mobilization. Pending the final data, 19.4% of Central Administration officials would have supported the strike, compared to 28% on January 19, according to the Government.

Public workers from local administrations joined the strike by 7.9%, compared to 11.3% on the 19th, and those from hospitals by 8.5%, after the previous 9.9%.

However, there were services that were especially affected: oil, rail, air and education, according to union figures.

[Macron plantea subir la jubilación a los 64 años y los sindicatos convocan una huelga al instante]

Nearly a third of the employees of the trains managed by the state SNCF supported the strike -compared to 46.3% on January 19-, which meant that only two regional trains out of 10 and between 25% and 30% of high-speed trains circulated.

In secondary education, it is estimated that there were 55% of strikers, according to the unions. According to the Ministry of Education, there were 25.92% of teachers who supported the strike, counting all educational levels, compared to 38.5% on January 19.

As expected, the TotalEnergies refineries and fuel depots sector mobilized en masse, according to data from the CGT union. Four refineries had at least 75% of their staff on strike.

The government stands firm

In the routine parliamentary session to control the Government, the pension reform was one of the main issues. The labor minister, the former socialist Olivier Dussoptdefended the reform before the questions of the radical left and the extreme right.

“We ask the French to make an effort so that the current distribution system can be maintained”asserted Dussopt, who justified it by using the aging of the population: it has gone from three contributors for a retiree in the 1970s, to 1.7 contributors today.

The French Executive has also defended the reform of the pension system to be in line with the EU, since France is one of the countries in which the minimum retirement age is lower (62). An argument rejected by union leaders. “When we have worked all our lives, the desire is to be able to live on the pension, and for longer. That’s the message on the street in France.”

Berger, who is also president of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), asked the French government to stop “using the argument from Europe” to extend working life, since the real retirement age in France and the rest of the EU is very similar.