Schools and transportation networks in France were heavily disrupted Tuesday, for the second time in the month of January, as unions staged another mass strike against government plans to raise the retirement age for most workers.
To replicate the first major protest against the retirement plans, which drew more than 1 million participants on January 19, unions and opposition parties called for people to demonstrate in major cities. The transit system came to a complete stop that day due to strikes, and the Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors.
According to the France’s main education union, more than 100 schools in Paris were anticipated to close on Tuesday January 31, as 60% of teachers went on strike.
The country’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, announced that 4,000 police would be deployed to make sure strikes took place “without any serious incidents” since the French capital was anticipated to bear the bulk of the protests.
Two-thirds of TGV trains, France’s intercity high-speed rail service, will be canceled, according to national railway operator SNCF, and just 20% of regional trains will run.
Philippe Martinez, the head of the CGT, one of France’s largest union federations, said that there would be 248 protests around the nation.
The government of President Emmanuel Macron is standing firm on the proposed pension reforms, which will gradually raise the age at which French citizens can draw a state pension from 62 to 64, in spite of the widespread protests.
Raising the retirement age is “not negotiable,” the prime minister Élisabeth Borne declared in an interview with a French television station on Sunday January 29.
Even though the government claims the legislation is required to address a funding shortfall, workers are upset about the changes at a time when living expenses are going up.
By raising the retirement age to 64, France would continue to fall behind the average for developed countries in Europe, where the age at which full pension benefits vest is 65 and steadily advancing to 67.
Author-Roberta Appiah
