SHARE
COPY LINK

STRIKES

‘The people around me don’t seem to really care’: The French defying Macron

More than 800,000 people took to the streets across France on Thursday on the first day of a nationwide strike over President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms.

'The people around me don't seem to really care': The French defying Macron
Photo: LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP

Whether a postman, maths teacher, physiotherapist or firefighter, all said they were not just demonstrating over the shake-up of the pensions system but for better working conditions generally.

Better pensions

Claire, a 32-year-old firefighter from the southern Alpes-Maritimes region: “I'm demonstrating today to demand that our profession be recognised as hazardous, which would give us the right to better pensions.

“We also want more staff as our numbers are constantly falling.

As doctors become more scarce in the countryside, making it increasingly difficult to get an emergency call out, we're the ones people turn to.

“But when we come to the rescue, in 80 percent of cases it's something that we cannot resolve. So we send people to hospital, which clogs up emergency rooms.”

France's pension system: How it works and what does Macron want to change?

Against 'the whole system' 

Romain Rozat, 37-year-old maths teacher in a Paris high school: “The pension reform is just the spark that sent us into the street.

We're protesting against an entire system, including a reform of school curriculum last year which did not go down well. It's a disaster for students.

“The continuous assessment that was put in place makes it harder for students to get into college. There's not much we can do as teachers as schools' budgets for teaching hours are being cut.”

Police in Paris fear more violence at 'yellow vest' marches on Saturday

Public service pride 

Serge Wattelet, a 59-year-old postman in the western Paris suburb of Sartrouville: “I'm demonstrating against the pension reforms but not only. Our profession has been turned upside down. I was happy and proud when I joined the postal service in 1982 but it's less and less a source of pride nowadays.

“These days, we no longer provide a proper public service. A lot of postal workers are on short-term contracts, which has an impact on the quality of service.

“In the past, we used to prepare the mail and deliver it. Today, the tasks are divided up and mechanised. It's feels as if our profession is being taken away from us.”

Doing the 'dirty' work

Wahid Chouchane, a 29-year-old employee of state electricity grid operator Enedis: “When I signed my contract I was supposed to retire at 55. Now it's 62. But in our job, whether there's hail, wind or snow, we go out into the mud, into the fields, to repair electricity lines. The only thing that stops us is lightning.

“In the place where I worked previously, three of my oldest colleagues died before reaching retirement age.

“That's why I'm demonstrating, to show that our job is difficult and wears you out. Those who govern us don't understand the value of work. They're not getting their hands dirty like us.”

For the right to protest

Harold Herrou, 25-year-old physiotherapist from the western city of Nantes, part of the “yellow vest” protest movement:

“I came in my FC Nantes football jersey because the police took my yellow vest last week when I was demonstrating in Paris.

“Today, I'm not only demonstrating over pensions but also for the firefighters, the nurses, for people sleeping in the street at a time of mass tax evasion.

“It's also for the right to protest and because the people around me don't seem to really care.”

Our forefathers fought

Georges Miath, a 56-year-old employee of Otis elevator company in Paris: “I'm marching to defend our living conditions, which are being undermined. Between staff cuts and shortages we're being asked to do more with less but without any extra pay. Meanwhile, the cost of living is going up.

“Our forefathers fought so that we could enjoy better living conditions.

“Blood was shed but now everything is falling apart. Out of respect for them, and to ensure a better future for our children, we have a duty to be here. If not, at what age will they retire at? 70? 75?”

Member comments

  1. The people around me don’t seem to really care’ is the headline for a story about why people are protesting? Bad…

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

STRIKES

Hundreds of thousands take to streets against Macron’s pension plan

Demonstrators in France took to the streets Saturday for a seventh day of protest against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans, with police expecting up to a million people at rallies nationwide.

Hundreds of thousands take to streets against Macron's pension plan

Unions hope they can still force Macron to back down as parliament debates the draft law, with the National Assembly and the Senate moving towards a final vote as early as this month.

“This is the final stretch,” said Marylise Leon, deputy leader of the CFDT union. “The endgame is now,” she told the franceinfo broadcaster Saturday.

This week, Macron twice turned down urgent calls by unions to meet with him in a last-ditch attempt to get him to change his mind.

“When there are millions of people in the streets, when there are strikes and all we get from the other side is silence, people wonder: What more do we need to do to be heard?”, said Philippe Martinez, boss of the hard-left CGT
union.

“This country’s leaders need to stop being in denial of this social movement,” said CFDT head Laurent Berger on Saturday.

Police said they expect between 800,000 and one million people at 230 planned demonstrations across France, of which up to 100,000 were likely to march in Paris.

It was the second protest day called on a weekend, with unions hoping that demonstrators would show up in greater numbers if they did not have to take a day off work.

“I’m here to fight for my colleagues and for our young people,” said Claude Jeanvoine, 63, a retired train driver demonstrating in Strasbourg, eastern France. “People shouldn’t let the government get away with this, this is about the future of their children and grandchildren,” he told AFP.

READ ALSO: 5 minutes to understand … French pension reform 

At the last big strike and protest day on Tuesday, turnout was just under 1.3 million people, according to police, and more than three million according to unions.

Several sectors in the French economy have been targeted by union calls for indefinite strikes, including in rail and air transport, power stations, natural gas terminals and rubbish collection.

The French Senate, meanwhile, early Saturday resumed debate on the reform whose headline measure is a hike in the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62.

Senators have until Sunday evening to conclude their discussions, and a commission is then to elaborate a final version of the draft law which will be submitted to both houses of parliament for a final vote.

Should Macron’s government fail to assemble a majority ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne could deploy a rarely-used constitutional tool, known as article 49/3, to push the legislation through without a vote.

An opinion poll published by broadcaster BFMTV Saturday found that 63 percent of French people approve the protests against the reform, and 54 percent were also in favour of the strikes and blockages in some sectors.

Some 78 percent, however, said they believed that Macron would end up getting the reform adopted.

READ ALSO: LATEST: How strikes will affect France this weekend

SHOW COMMENTS