Latest update: 13/10/2010 

- France - Nicolas Sarkozy - Retirement - strike


Students join workers in largest pension protests yet

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Students joined workers for a new round of nationwide strikes across France on Tuesday in protest at government plans to overhaul the country's pension system and raise the legal retirement age from 60 to 62.

By FRANCE 24 (text)
 
French students and public sector workers turned out in force on Tuesday as protests against pension reforms intensified across France.
 
Unions said as many as 3.5 million people had taken to the streets across France, while police put the estimate at 1.2 million, the largest turnout in four nationwide
demonstrations over the last five weeks.
 
Rail services, flights and sea ports ran below capacity as the unions kept up their battle. Walkouts reduced flights from Paris's main airports by as much as 50 percent. One in three high-speed TGV trains were running, though international services operated with more frequency.
 

Limited power cuts targeting public buildings were also expected as utility workers joined the strike movement, France's CGT union said in a statement, calling the cuts "symbolic".

 
Youth power
 
Secondary school students in France blocked the entrance to many of their own schools on Tuesday. Their participation has swelled the ranks of the union-led anti-reform movement, which the government has tried to minimize.
 
At midday, France’s interior ministry had identified 357 schools (out of 4302 in France) that had been blocked or significantly disrupted by striking students. The National Union of Secondary School Students (UNL), France’s largest group representing that age group, announced a day of widespread student action.
 
“Sarkozy, you're screwed, the youth is on the street,” hundreds of students chanted in the south-western city of Toulouse, as they joined striking teachers and other state workers who are trying to block Presient Nicolas Sarkozy’s efforts to raise the retirement age.
   
PENSION PROTESTS: THE FIGURES AT NOON
  •  In the western city of Rennes, 22,000 people took to the streets, according to local officials, and 60,000 according to unions, making it the largest demonstration in the city since 2006.
  •  In Marseille, France’s second largest city, police said protesters numbered 24,500, while unions put the figure at 230,000. In the south-eastern city of Grenoble, the rivaling headcounts stood at 14,000 and 72,000 protesters.

 

The government had hoped students would not join the battle over pension reform that has been brewing since May.

 

 

On Tuesday, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told his party’s lawmakers that it was irresponsible for “the far-left and elements of the Socialist Party” to incite “15 year-olds to join the street protests”, according to AFP.


'No more concessions'
 
Also on Tuesday, Fillon told cabinet ministers the government would make no further concessions to strikers protesting against an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 62.
 
Last week, the proposed bill was amended to add certain exemptions for working mothers, but unions rejected the concessions as inadequate and pressed on with open-ended strikes in several sectors
 
If the walls of Paris could talk, they would tell the story of a city simmering with political frustration. Here, in Paris’s 3rd arrondissement (district), is a sticker of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with “Enough!” written on his forehead. (Photos: Rachel Holman)
Nearby on the Boulevard du Temple, one of many pedestrian poles tagged with a sticker calling for "Social justice" and a "General strike".
On the Paris Metro's line 4, which runs from Porte d’Orleans in the south to Porte de Clignancourt in the north, an ad-hoc sign urges "Retirement: No to this unjust reform!"
A billboard at the foot of Montmartre plastered with posters calling for "Strike until victory!", "Retract the law on retirement," and one picturing Sarkozy next to embattled Labour Minister Eric Woerth on a 500-euro bill saying "Out! Because they're worth nothing".
Back in the 3rd arrondissement, an exhibit features pictures of a French retirement home for artists, meant to "force us to confront the image of our society in the face of old age, at a time when the debate over retirement reform seems is focused solely on economics."
A store window on rue Jean Pierre Timbaud in the 11th district displays a picture of Adolf Hitler, saying: "Me too, I began like that with the Roma, before exterminating one million of them in the concentration camps. Make a little effort Nicolas".
In the same window display is another photo depicting Sarkozy as General Philippe Petain, head of France’s Vichy government, which collaborated with Nazi Germany. The words above and below the image read “Son of Petain”.
On Avenue Parmentier, in the 11th arrondissement, a school banner says: “Solidarity school: families of undocumented immigrants must be regularised”. Many are frustrated by France's refusal to grant papers to immigrant parents whose children attend French state school.
Many schools feel they are unfairly excluded from the Priority Education Zones or ZEPs, whereby educational institutes are eligible for extra resources. On rue Christiani, in the 18th arrondissement, a school banner demands “ZEP! Why not us?”

    Bernard Thibault, the leader of the CGT, France’s largest union, called attention to the swelling number of people in the streets. “We will continue, the movement is not going to stop because of the senators’ vote,” Thibault told reporters on Tuesday.

     
    On Monday, France’s Senate backed a key measure raising the age at which workers can retire with a full pension from 65 to 67.
     
    The measure is one of the two main planks of the governmen’t reform package -- the Senate agreed last Friday to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60 -- and means the unpopular bill is closer to becoming law.
     
    Across Europe, austerity measures to trim budget deficits have sparked public anger and protests.
     
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    Strikes paralyze France, but some popular myths are false - France 24, 12/10/10
    Sarkozy's flagship pension bill is turning into one of the biggest battles of his presidency, pitting him against powerful unions who crushed a previous attempt to reform pensions in 1995, and weighing on his already low popularity ratings.
    Date created : 12/10/2010 
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    (6) Reactions

    Frence strikes

    by Henalf (not verified) - 19/10/2010 - 05:07

    The strikes in France are the signs of things to come. Too many people in this World. After the 1st worldwar, Marie Stopes warned the World 'Control population of the World. or POPULATE AND PERISH" As you sow,so shall you reap. QED

    Pension protests

    by Anonyme (not verified) - 17/10/2010 - 08:33

    Eligibility to retire at a certain age, and the reality of being able to actually retire and live on that pension as of a certain age, are at opposite ends of the spectrum. In the U.S., while the minimum retirement age has and will continue to well exceed 60 yrs, actual retirement occurs when your body is found in the early stages of rigor mortis.

    French people in streets striking & creating unnecessary uproar

    by Marc (not verified) - 16/10/2010 - 16:06

    The French people striking once again underscore the view most people have outside of France: French people are lazy. They are selfish. There is no nice way to characterize such petulant behavior. It is SELFISH. (And there's nothing wrong with working past 60, if you've lived a right, good, and healthy life.) All of our modern western states have various degrees of the same situation in Greece, Spain, England, France, and, yes, North America as well. BUT: Right thinking citizenry knows that it is WRONG to just want social-welfare state benefits on the backs of those not yet born or in the workforce. All of these welfare state "Benefits" set up over the last 30-40 years in EU & Commonwealth nations are short-sighted and, yes, SELFISH. Get to work. Stop crying in the public streets; that is the behavior of 4 & 5 year olds. It is terribly embarassing. And doesn't reassure one of the solid fortitude of one's native land. I am embarrased. The principle that always holds best: You work hard in this life. You work hard for the future of your children and grandchildren. You don't go wasting your time bellyaching that your work week is too long, your vacation too short, your pension not sizable enough. Shame. Those in the streets protesting aren't thinking straight. You cannot sustain LOTS of easy benefits, early retirements (when people are fully healthy and fully capable of working & SHOULD enjoy still working) AND a shrinking number of new births and overall population. Any child with basic mathematics skills can tell you this.

    Get out of the streets and get back to work. You look likey whiney teens. And...didn't the 5-week August holidays really just end?

    smart students

    by x (not verified) - 13/10/2010 - 00:20

    but no worries, there is no 62 years no more

    Striking workers

    by Michael (not verified) - 12/10/2010 - 22:32

    I spport the strikig workers eventhough this may disrupt my visit to Paris next tuesday

    The Retirement Age Protests

    by 50 Calibre (not verified) - 12/10/2010 - 18:46

    Who wouldn't have a problem with being told that they are going to have to work a few years more before they can take the retirement they have worked for?

    Answer: Everybody!

    The trouble is that everybody expects everyone else to pay for it and surprise, surprise! They don't want to do that.

    So who do these protesters think is going to fund their aspirations to quit work well before they have paid enough in to the system to fund their retirement?

    Answer: Nobody!

    The sooner they all get a dose of Reality Mixture, the sooner they will realise that they better get back to work and earn the money to pay their pensions.

    It's not a difficult concept to understand unless you are very stupid.

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