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France Brought to a Standstill Over Attack on Pensions

Roger Mckenzie

Millions of French workers took to the streets in protest as the country was brought to a standstill in a “citizens’ insurrection” over the government’s attack on pension schemes.

Workers walked out on the second day of industrial action against President Emmanuel Macron’s scheme to raise the French retirement age by two years to 64.

The eight main trade union centres said that more than two million people took part in 250 protests against the changes, including a massive rally of hundreds of thousands in Paris.

France’s oil industry was paralysed, with the CGT union centre saying that nearly all workers at TotalEnergies went on strike.

High school and university students also joined the protests, with a few dozen students occupying the main building at the Sciences-Po university overnight.

“Obviously this is young people’s business,” said Colin Champion, a student leader at the Lycee Voltaire in Paris, one of several schools blockaded by pupils in the capital.

Even a prison in the south-western city of Nimes was blocked by staff protesting, a union source said.

Polling shows that most French people oppose the reform, but President Macron’s government says that it is determined to ram it through.

The reform is “vital” to ensure that the pension system keeps working, Mr Macron said on Monday.

Speaking in Marseille, where unions say 205,000 people took to the streets, veteran left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon called the uprising against the government proposals “a form of citizens’ insurrection.”

CGT general secretary Philippe Martinez told reporters that there were “10,000 demonstrators in Reunion, 16,000 in Tarbes, 25,000 in Nice and 20,000 in Avignon.”

Saying he believed the support on Tuesday was greater than on the previous day of action on January 19, Mr Martinez told MPs “to listen to those who elected them. Despite attempts at division, union unity is strong.”

Transport, schools and the energy sectors were all heavily hit by the strike. There were virtually no regional or high-speed trains operating in the country.

Air France said that one in 10 short and medium-haul services had been cancelled. About half of all nursery and primary school teachers took industrial action.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who French communist leader Fabien Roussel yesterday compared to Margaret Thatcher, is under increasing pressure to modify the proposals.

Unions say that women in particular will be discriminated against by the plans as they take time out from work to have children.

The proposals are set to be considered by the National Assembly where Mr Macron’s party no longer has a majority.

(Courtesy: Morning Star Online, a socialist British daily newspaper with a focus on social, political and trade union issues. It has been functioning as an independent readers’ cooperative since 1945.)

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Workers in the UK Take to the Streets in Largest Day of Industrial Action in a Decade

Davide Schmid

On the 1st of February 2023, the UK came the closest it has come in a generation to a general strike as workers from across a wide range of sectors including education and transport walked out in protest regarding poor pay, unfair working conditions, pensions and precarity. The day of strike represents the culmination of many months of industrial action across the UK, including unprecedented strikes by nurses and ambulance workers. They are a response both to the current cost of living crisis, which is pushing many workers to the brink of poverty, and to the long-term reality of declining pay and worsening public services. Many sectors, such as teaching and health, have seen declines in real pay in the order of 10-15% since 2010. This combined with the effects of more than a decade of austerity to create a situation in which key public services, from ambulances to A&E, from rail transport to schools, are in a state of constant disfunction and crisis.

On the streets, the sense of solidarity up and down the country was palpable as rallies took place in major cities and workers came together to say no to the continued erosion of working conditions which affects a growing proportion of UK workers, including many of the key workers who only two years ago were being celebrated as heroes during the pandemic.

As cars beeped their horns in solidarity and streets came to a standstill, it became clear that this is no longer just a case of individual fights, but a movement across the country. It is no longer simply a case of rail workers, university lecturers or health professionals fighting for their own rights. People across the country have had enough and are coming together to say so. The chants of ‘workers united will never be defeated’ rang out above the sound of traffic, with people stopping in the street to clap those passing by on marches and rallies.

This is a stark reminder to the British Government that there is power in the people; that real time pay offers far below inflation and the expectations that people will continue to work ridiculous hours with very little recognition, along with the erosion of safety measures and public services, will not be tolerated. Government representatives continue to push back against the demands for recognition and fairness, but if today is anything to go by, the fight may be long but workers will not be divided.

(Courtesy: Pressenza, an international news agency dedicated to news about peace and nonviolence with offices in several cities around the world.)