Published in:
The pension reform was debated in the National Assembly this Friday (10) in a tumultuous session, on the eve of a new massive mobilization called by the unions. This time they hope to mobilize workers who cannot strike during the week.
Police sources predict a participation of 600,000 to 800,000 people, in about 240 demonstrations scheduled to take place this Saturday (11), throughout France. In the capital Paris alone, 90,000 to 120,000 participants are expected.
The workers are preparing for a long confrontation, highlighted the general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, considering the possibility of “tougher, more numerous, more massive and longer strikes”.
Earlier, the deputies validated by a relatively tight score, of 181 votes against 163, the first article of the government bill providing for the gradual extinction of numerous special retirement regimes. All deputies from the right-wing “Os Republicanos” party voted with the presidential majority.
With the presentation of hundreds of amendments, the left-wing Nupes coalition defended the maintenance of special regimes, as in the cases of the RATP (transport), the electricity and gas industries (IEG) or the Bank of France. But the majority defended its end, as a measure of “justice”.
There are still about 16,000 amendments to be discussed in a week, in the other 19 articles of the project presented by the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, and which has been highly contested.
The postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 provokes “a profound rejection”, reacted Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT trade union.
This Saturday will be the fourth day of demonstration against the Social Security reform project. The mobilizations brought together, without major incidents, between 757 thousand people, according to the Ministry of the Interior (2 million according to the organizers), on February 7th. The protests gathered 1.27 million (2.5 million) on 31 January.
What if the French are just lazy?
In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on January 29, historian and author Robert Zaretsky asks: “Are the French, as stereotyped, just being lazy?” In a long analysis, he investigates whether, on the contrary, French workers were just more realistic, insofar as they did not see work as the only source of satisfaction in life.
“Statistics offer an initial answer,” writes Zaretsky, pointing to a productivity issue and noting that the subject deserves extensive discussion. “Although the aggregate productivity of French workers is slightly lower than that of American workers, it is dramatically higher than that of their European peers. In fact, it is higher than the G7 average,” she points out.
The main blockage of the Social Security reform text is the increase in the minimum retirement age, from 62 to 64 years, and the government does not give up on this point.
(With information from AFP)