20 minutes agoShut down schools, traffic jams, mass strikes in France: We don't work until 64.
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)Opposition to pension reform paralyzed France altogether. The strike has been held throughout the country, in the second wave of protests against the president, Emmanuel Macron, who will raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Eight large unions are participating in these strikes, which have brought closure [...]
Eight major unions are participating in these strikes, which have brought closures to several schools, impasses and other problems in public transport lines and oil refinerys.
“Construction workers cannot work until they are 64. We need to consider the difficulty of work. For the president, it is easy, as he sits in a chair and can work until the age of 70,”, Ikeolis Atlantique, the bus driver, said.
I think that travellers should not be affected, the government should be concerned, if the strikers really want to change something”, says Axel Gaillard, student.
According to estimates, more than 1 million French people have joined the manifestations and strike. Unions claim that half of the teachers have joined them, but the Education Ministry says the number was only a quarter of all educators.
Despite strong controversy and polls suggesting that two-thirds of voters in France oppose the changes, the Macron government is continuing to push this reform forward.
But without a majority in parliament, the president must rely on the right republics to pass the reform at the National Assembly.
