PARIS — Sizable union-led protests have continued against French President Emmanuel Macron’s attack on workers’ pensions, despite the end of a six-week national rail strike Jan. 29 called to oppose the assaults. The strike was joined by workers walking out in other industries.
Over 120,000 workers took to the streets Feb. 6, part of a series of national protests aimed at forcing the government to back down.
After striking for three weeks, workers at the Corsica Linea ferryboat line based in Marseille returned to work Jan. 31 after reaching an agreement with the bosses.
“Our strike is in solidarity with the sailors at La Meridionale whose jobs are being threatened,” Corsica Linea sailor Jean-Pierre Ferraggioli told the Militant Jan. 27. “We are also against the retirement plan.”
“We will be back for the next national demonstration,” against Macron’s pension cuts, he added.
Macron wants to raise the age workers can retire from 62 to 64 and impose a new system for calculating how much pension workers receive, with many getting less. In an unsuccessful attempt to quell the unrest in January, the government temporarily suspended the rise in the retirement age from taking effect until 2027.
Three waste incinerator plants here have been occupied by striking workers since Jan. 23.
The National Assembly will debate Macron’s proposals Feb. 17. The General Confederation of Workers and other union federations have called for another national day of protests on Feb. 20.