WORLD
France braced for day of strikes and protests
Baku, Sept 11 (AZERTAC). Hundreds of thousands of anxious French workers will take to the streets on Tuesday in protest against the Socialist government’s planned pension reforms. Organisers say the strike will be only the first of many protests against the reform.
France will witness another day of street protests and strikes on Tuesday, when the Socialist government will face another show of dissent from the public.
Just months after gay marriage protesters brought cities to a stand-still, September 10th will see workers march against the government’s controversial proposed reforms of the pension system.
Organisers say it is just the start of a movement they are confident will gain momentum as the reforms go through parliament later in the autumn.
The organisers of the demonstration, including unions and far left political parties, have called on workers to mobilise against reforms they see as plainly unfair for the majority.
Jean-Luc Jibelin from France’s Communist Party told The Local the reforms would spell “disaster” for a lot of French workers.
“This project of reform does not correspond at all to the expectations of the French people,” he said. “The reforms mean that many young people will simply not be able to qualify for the maximum pension. That is not real social progress.”
The day of action will see nearly 200 protests across the country involving members from a number of leading trade unions including the CGT, which is also calling on workers to protest over “pay and jobs” as well as “the right to a pension”.
France’s rail operator SNCF says it will post regular updates of any disruption to services caused by the strike on its website, but transport bosses in Paris are confident the capital’s rail network will not be affected.
TGV is expected to run as normal except for on the TGV Atlantic line but Intercity trains are set to be disrupted with only one in two trains running on certain lines.