French unions vow no surrender in strike

The leader of France’s hardline CGT union yesterday urged all workers to join pension strikes that have crippled public transport over the past month, as a showdown with President Emmanuel Macron enters a second month.

In his New Year’s address Tuesday Macron vowed not to back down on his plan to replace France’s 42 separate pension schemes with a single system that would require people to work longer.

The government says the changes are necessary to make the system fairer for all and more sustainable but unions argue that workers, particularly in the public sector, will lose out.

Reacting to Macron’s speech, CGT leader Philippe Martinez called for strikes “everywhere” from next week, both “in the public and the private sector”.

“Faced with a self-satisfied president who thinks that everything is going fine in this country we have to send a stronger warning sign,” he told BFM news channel.

 

French unions vow no surrender in strike

The leader of Frances hardline CGT union yesterday urged all workers to join pension strikes that have crippled public transport over the past month, as a showdown with President Emmanuel Macron enters a second month. In his New Years address Tuesday Macron vowed not to back down on his plan to replace Frances 42 separate pension schemes with a single system that would require people to work longer. The government says the changes are necessary to make the system fairer for all and more sustainable but unions argue that workers, particularly in the public sector, will lose out. Reacting to Macrons speech, CGT leader Philippe Martinez called for strikes everywhere from next week, both in the public and the private sector. Faced with a self-satisfied president who thinks that everything is going fine in this country we have to send a stronger warning sign, he told BFM news channel.