France hit by new strikes as pension reform opposition grows

Bloomberg

French labor unions are leading a second day of mass strikes and protests on Tuesday against raising the retirement age in a test of the momentum driving defiance to Emmanuel Macron’s signature economic reform.
The country’s rail operator, SNCF, expects only one-third of high-speed TGVs to run and urged people to work from home. Subway and commuter trains serving the capital were severely disrupted, with limited service on most lines. Many schools were also set to close.
Between three-quarters and all of the workers at TotalEnergies SE’s refineries and fuel depots are striking, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the CGT union. Air France-KLM’s French arm said it had scrapped 10% of short-haul flights.
Macron faced the biggest protests yet of his time as president on Jan. 19 when the country’s usually fragmented unions united to bring more than 1.1 million people onto the streets. Polls carried out since suggest opposition is growing.
CGT union head Philippe Martinez told BFM TV there were signs that at least as many people will take part on Tuesday. He urged protesters and strikers to maintain pressure on the government, saying it had lost the ideological battle.
“They want to show determination, so they must face the same determination from our end.” he said. Macron has pledged to see his program through, and backing down would endanger a fundamental part of his strategy to steady France’s deficit-ridden finances and improve the economy’s capacity to grow and create jobs. If the latest 24-hour walkout shows signs that protest momentum is waning, however, it could make it easier to garner support in parliament for the bill, which includes a provision that would raise the minimum retirement age by two years to 64.
Aside from turnout, the share of public sector workers on strike will be an important barometer of defiance. On Jan. 19, slightly fewer walked out than on the first day of demonstrations against a 2019 pension reform plan, which Macron ultimately dropped after the Covid pandemic struck.
The government will also be watching closely for signs of violence. According to newspaper Le Parisien, the march in Paris will likely be joined by between 1,000 and 1,200 activists from the Yellow Vest movement, whose anti-Macron protests, which began in 2018, often turned violent.
Opponents of raising the minimum retirement age point to 1995, when then President Jacques Chirac abandoned plans to change the pension system after prolonged disruption. More recently, governments have stood their ground, notably in 2010 when Nicolas Sarkozy raised the lower limit to 62 despite months of unrest.
Macron says reform is essential to avoid deficits in the coming years, especially as public finances are already under pressure from massive spending during the Covid pandemic and energy crisis.