I suggested french government, On Tuesday, the statutory retirement age was raised to 64 by 2030 instead of the current 62, and as a result the unions announced the first day of mobilization on 19 January.
“The statutory retirement age will gradually increase, three months a year, to reach 64 in 2030,” Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne said during her presentation of the bill.
“We propose that those who can do so continue to work for a longer period… This choice is also the choice that all our European neighbors have made,” he added in a televised speech.
And he continued: “I am well aware that changing our pension system raises concerns and questions among the French, and we want to respond and convince them”.
Subsequently, the eight major unions called a day of demonstrations and a strike on January 19 to protest this plan, promised by President Emmanuel Macron during his first term campaign and one of the major reforms of his second term, in which he it does not have a decisive majority in Parliament.
And the unions, whose leaders met in Paris on Tuesday evening, confirmed in a joint statement that this day should “launch a strong mobilization on long-term pensions”.
The secretary general of the trade union confederation, Laurent Berger, called for a strong mobilization “so that the government backs down”, while Laurent Lescure, from another signatory union, called for “movements every day in companies and departments”.
The issue is expected to divide society after the main employers union, Medef, praised what it described as “responsible and pragmatic decisions”, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she wanted to “address a unjust reform”.
The radical left-wing ‘Father France’ party denounced what it saw as a “dangerous retreat from social gains”.
Thirty years ago, France witnessed a series of major reforms of its pension systems to respond to its aging population and the financial deterioration of its treasury.
And every time an extension of the working age is announced, movements of workers are organized in a country where the employment rate of the elderly is considered low.
