French union activists cut electricity to nearly 100,000 homes or offices. Eiffel Tower staff walked off the job. Even Paris opera workers joined in Tuesday's nationwide protests across France, singing an aria of anger as workers rallied against the government's plan to raise the retirement age to 64, SIA reports referring to AP.
Despite 13 days of crippling train and subway strikes, French President Emmanuel Macron and his government stayed firm. The prime minister declared his “total" determination to reshape a pension system that unions celebrate as a model for the rest of the world but that he calls unfair and destined to collapse into debt. Hospital workers in scrubs, Air France staff in uniforms, lawyers wearing long black robes — people from across the French workforce joined in the strikes and protests in higher numbers than the last cross-sector walkout last week.
The retirement reform that has brought them together is just one of their many gripes against Macron, a business-friendly centrist they fear is dismantling France's costly but oft-envied welfare state. Several European countries have raised the retirement age or cut pensions in recent years to keep up with lengthening life expectancy and slowing economic growth. Macron argues that France needs to do the same.
Tourists cancelled plans and Paris commuters took hours to get to work Tuesday, as train drivers kept up their strike against changes to a system that allows them and other workers under special pension regimes to retire as early as their 50s. Police in Paris barricaded the presidential Elysee Palace, bracing for violence by yellow vest activists or other radical demonstrators. With riot police watching closely, protesters carrying humorous signs and colourful costumes marched past the historic Bastille plaza. On the steps of the opera house overlooking the monument, workers sang famous arias and played instruments to defend their special retirement plan.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe confirmed new negotiations with unions starting Wednesday, but showed no sign of backing down. In addition to transportation troubles, parents faced shuttered schools and students had key exams cancelled Tuesday as teachers joined in the strike.
Hospitals requisitioned workers to ensure key services Tuesday, as nurses, doctors and pharmacists went on strike to save a once-vaunted public hospital system that’s struggling after years of cost cuts.
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