PARIS (Reuters) – French unions staged their 14th day of protests on Tuesday against government plans to raise the retirement age to 64. This could be a last-ditch attempt to pressure lawmakers to repeal laws already enacted. Book.
President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to use special constitutional powers to push through reforms sparked angry protests this spring, but the issue has slipped off the media agenda and trade unions have rallied. is getting harder.
“The protests have been going on for six months. “There’s a lot of anger, but there’s also fatigue,” she said, adding that the strikers are feeling a salary pinch.
Nevertheless, Binet expected a “very high” level of mobilization on Tuesday and said the CGT union was ready to continue fighting reform in the coming weeks.
Mr Macron is now enjoying a timid recovery in the polls. After the reform bill was passed, he launched a public relations campaign that flew across the country to confront public anger, but also announced huge investments in new technologies.
Officials say 400,000 to 600,000 people are expected to attend protests across France, down from the more than 1 million who marched at the height of pension protests earlier this year. right.
Intercity trains are likely to experience “minor disruptions” and the Paris Metro network will continue to operate normally, according to the SNCF rail company. However, a third of flights from Paris Orly airport have been cancelled.
“Today will be one of the last days of protests against reform,” Roland Berger, leader of the more moderate CFDT trade union, told Europe 1 radio.
He said the CFDT must now turn anger over reforms into a “show of strength” in upcoming talks with the government on issues such as improving working conditions to purchasing power.
Unions, which have maintained a rare united front throughout the pension issue, staged a national strike just two days before parliament debated an opposition-proposed bill aimed at halting raising the minimum pension age.
The clause is expected to be rejected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is a member of Mr Macron’s party, because the French constitution does not allow lawmakers to pass a bill that costs money without measures to offset its costs.
But unions hope the mass protesters will put pressure on lawmakers to review and vote on the bill anyway. Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, have argued that the bill’s rejection would rekindle public anger and label such a move “anti-democratic.”
Macron has argued that reforms are essential to bridging the huge budget deficit and will hope that the approaching summer vacation and improving inflation will help the public move forward.
The president’s popularity rose four points in June’s Elab monthly poll and eight points in the YouGov poll, but is still hovering around 30%.
Reported by Michelle Rose. Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon; editing by Hugh Lawson and Sharon Singleton
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