Enraged workers across France walked off the job and hit the streets Tuesday to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the nation’s official retirement age from 62 to 64.

It marks the second time this month that French workers have mobilized against Macron’s attack on the country’s pension system. Nationwide strikes and marches on Jan. 19 brought out between 1 million and 2 million people, and labor unions aimed to match or exceed those numbers on Tuesday, with roughly 250 demonstrations planned around the country.

By Kenny Stancil
Common Dreams

Longtime leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon predicted Tuesday morning that “a historic day” of protests would help defeat Macron’s proposal once and for all, as massive crowds rallied in cities and towns outside Paris —prior to a major march that shut down the French capital on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s not often that we see such a mass mobilization,” Mélenchon said from the southern city of Marseille. “It’s a form of citizens’ insurrection.”

On the small western island of Ouessant, about 100 people gathered early in the day for a protest outside the office of Mayor Denis Palluel.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Palluel noted that the threat of having to work longer to qualify for a full pension dismayed mariners on the island who have grueling ocean-based jobs.

“Retiring at a reasonable age is important,” he said, “because life expectancy isn’t very long.”

Despite widespread opposition to pushing back France’s retirement age — approximately three-fourths of the population is against such a move, according to recent polling — many lawmakers remain determined to fulfill Macron’s election pledge to overhaul the nation’s pension system.

On Monday, Macron described his effort to hike the retirement age as “essential.” Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, for her part, asserted this past weekend that raising the retirement age to 64 by 2030 is “no longer negotiable.”

“Strikers and protesters intend to prove otherwise,” Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday. “Labor unions and left-wing legislators fighting in parliament against Macron’s plans are counting on protesters to turn out massively to strengthen their efforts to kill the bill.”

As they did earlier this month, strikes on Tuesday upended multiple aspects of daily life, including electricity production, transportation, and education.

“TotalEnegies says between 75% and 100% of workers at its refineries and fuel depots are on strike, while electricity supplier EDF said they’re monitoring a drop in power to the national grid equivalent to three nuclear power plants,” Euronews reported.

According to AP: “Rail operator SNCF reported major disruptions, with strikes knocking out most trains in the Paris region, in all other regions, and on France’s flagship high-speed network linking cities and major towns. The Paris Metro was also hard hit by station closures and cancellations.”

France’s Education Ministry, meanwhile, reported that around a quarter of the nation’s teachers were on strike Tuesday, down from 70 percent during the first round of protests.

Macron’s proposed pension reform, the text of which Borne presented to the National Assembly earlier this month, faces an uphill battle.

READ MORE:

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/01/31/france-erupts-against-macrons-pension-plan/

IF MY MEMORY IS CORRECT, WE, IN AUSTRALIA, HAVE LONG LOST THIS BATTLE.

RETIRMENT is being gradually increased from 65 to 67 years. IN SOME COUNTRIES, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS RETIREMENT: IT'S WORK TILL YOU DROP.

THE COVER OF CHARLIE HEBDO AT TOP REMINDS US THAT "ASTERIX" COMIC STRIPS STARTED 64 YEARS AGO....

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....