Enlarge image
Demonstrators in Toulouse: clear rejection of the planned reform
Photo: GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO / EPA
Numerous strikes and protests have started in France to protest against a planned increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Many elementary schools remained closed, public radio broadcast music instead of the usual morning program, and employees at the energy company EDF reduced electricity production slightly.
Rail connections and local transport in Paris were massively disrupted.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend demonstrations in more than 200 cities.
"It will be a strong protest day," CGT union leader Philippe Martinez told Public Sénat.
"When all unions agree, which is rare, then it shows how big the problem is," he added.
The eight largest unions had jointly called for the strike.
"A lot of people who don't usually take to the streets are there this time," Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union, which is considered moderate, told broadcaster BFM.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the main lines of the pension reform last week.
President Emmanuel Macron had already tried in 2019 to simplify the complicated French pension system and enforce that French people work longer.
This had led to the longest wave of protests since the 1968 student revolt.
The reform project was then initially put on hold because of the corona pandemic.
With the reform, the government wants to secure the long-term financing of the pension system.
The pension fund is currently showing a plus, but the government expects a deficit of 14 billion euros by 2030. According to the OECD, the pension system is currently costing France around 14 percent of its economic output.
Therefore, the retirement age is to be raised from 62 to 64 years.
Originally, Macron had given 65 years as a goal.
There should continue to be special regulations for people who started working very early and for those in particularly strenuous jobs.
At the same time, the minimum pension is to be increased to 1,200 euros.
The government also wants to ensure that more seniors than before remain in the workforce.
At the end of 2021, only 36 percent of those aged 60 to 64 were employed.
The draft law is to be presented in the cabinet next week and then debated in the National Assembly.
aeh/AFP