Unions want to “paralyze the country” with strike call in France

France is preparing for a series of strikes and protests against the pension reform project in the country.

Unions called for strikes and demonstrations for next Thursday (19). Meanwhile, the government launched an information campaign and interviews to try to convince public opinion.

For now, the public sector is expected to have, on Thursday, stoppages in railways, transport in the Paris region, education (including universities), the police and penitentiaries.

In the private sector, there must be strikes in the energy sector, among commercial aviation crews and other smaller economic sectors.

“The debate in the National Assembly will be based on mobilization and strikes. The battle will be fought first in companies and in the streets”, warned the general secretary of the CGT union, Philippe Martinez, in an interview with state television “France 3”.

THE STRIKERS’ GOAL IS TO “PARALYZE THE COUNTRY”

The aim of the unions is to paralyze the country as in the series of major strikes in 1995 against Prime Minister Alain Juppé’s plan (under the presidency of the conservative Jacques Chirac) for pension reform, including special regimes in public sector companies.

On December 12 of that year, two million people protested across the country, according to unions (one million according to police), and just three days later the government withdrew the bill.

“We can do even better” than then, Philippe Martinez said optimistically in remarks last Friday.

The Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, warned this Sunday (15) that “the unions have the right to call strikes and demonstrations, but not to block the country”.

WHAT DOES THE RENOVATION PLAN INCLUDE?

The main points of the government’s plan are to increase the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years by 2030 and to anticipate to 2027 the increase from 42 to 43 years of contribution to be able to enjoy a full retirement (so far foreseen for 2035).

Dussopt, in an interview with public broadcaster “France Inter”, recalled that the reform takes into account those who started working before the age of 20.

For example, those who started their professional careers at 18 will be able to retire at 60 with their full pension: “They won’t work more than those who started later”, he said.

Opposition to the project reaches 68% of the French population, according to an Ifop survey published this Sunday by the “Journal Du Dimanche”.

The number is higher (71%) among young people, the working classes and the unemployed.

These numbers can be explained by the fact that the government’s speech about saving the pension system “does not work”, commented Frédéric Dabi, general director of opinion at Ifop, one of the main research institutes in the country.

Even so, Dabi perceives a “weaker” desire to mobilize in the streets, since the government seems to have secured the votes in both chambers of Parliament thanks to the support of the conservative party The Republicans, which is taken for granted.

However, the government launched a major campaign of action and media presence to try to convince the population.

On Thursday, the day of mobilizations, French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Barcelona for the Spain-France Summit with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.

With information from EFE/Gazeta do Povo