Most trains came to a halt in France as unions organized a sixth day of nationwide strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans which would raise the retirement age by two years to 64
France's leading trade unions have so far acted with rare unity, but the coming days and weeks will be a test of their ability to maintain that united front.Locally, some have already decided on rolling strikes.
Eric Sellini, a CGT union representative at TotalEnergies told Reuters that a strike currently completely blocking the Gonfreville oil refinery in Normandy was expected to run until Thursday and one at the Donges refinery in western France until Friday.The CFDT, now France's biggest trade union and generally reform-minded, has not committed to the rolling strikes and has said there could be other forms of protest.
While the government will be looking for divisions to emerge between the unions in the hope it weakens the movement, the CGT and FO, which are powerful within the transport and energy sectors, would still be able to bring significant disruption even without the CFDT participation."I can understand that not many people want to work two more years, but it's necessary to ensure the viability of the system," Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told France 5 TV.
While Macron's camp does not have an absolute majority in parliament, it can count on the support of at least part of the conservativeEven so, the legislation is having a bumpy path through parliament and Macron and his government may yet be forced to use special constitutional powers to bypass a parliamentary vote - something union leaders have warned him not to do.," CGT leader Philippe Martinez said ahead of the Paris protest march.
Reporting by Forrest Crellin, Benjamin Mallet, Ingrid Melander, Elizabeth Pineau, Benoit van Overstraeten, Blandine Henault, Dominique Vidalon, Marc Leras, Yonathan Van der Voort, Layli Foroudi; Writing by Ingrid Melander Editing by Richard Lough and Christina Fincher
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