Trains stand in the abandoned Gare du Nord station. The major unions have called for a strike over plans to raise the retirement age. Photo: Lewis Joly/AP/dpa
On Thursday morning, demonstrations gathered in Nice, Marseille and Toulouse, as shown on videos. Pictures showed empty platforms in Paris, and the media reported on protests at high schools. According to reports, between 70 and 100 percent of the workforce at TotalEnergies refineries participated in the strike. Electricity production should also be shut down.
Flights were canceled at Paris airports. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation had asked the airlines to cancel one in five flights at Paris Orly Airport on the day of the strike. Train traffic was also severely restricted.
The government under President Emmanuel Macron wants to gradually raise the regular retirement age from 62 to 64 years. In addition, the number of payment years required for a full pension should increase more quickly. A number of individual systems with privileges for certain professional groups are to be abolished.
Currently, the retirement age in France is 62 years. In fact, however, retirement begins later on average: those who have not paid in long enough to be entitled to a full pension also work longer. At the age of 67, the full pension entitlement applies regardless of how long you have paid in – the government wants to keep this up. She wants to increase the monthly minimum pension to around 1,200 euros. People who started working very early or whose working conditions are exceptionally hard should retire earlier.
Unions criticize the project as brutal and unfair. Massive criticism also comes from the French left and right-wing nationalists.
(SDA)