[rad-green] French unions continue strikes despite gove rnment’s compromise overture

*https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-unions-continue-strikes-despite-governments-compromise-overture/2020/01/15/aaf33f34-3644-11ea-a1ff-c48c1d59a4a1_story.html
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-unions-continue-strikes-despite-governments-compromise-overture/2020/01/15/aaf33f34-3644-11ea-a1ff-c48c1d59a4a1_story.html>Washington
Post               Jan. 15, 2020 French unions continue strikes despite
government’s compromise overture*
*By James McAuley*

[image: Demonstrators march during a protest against pension reforms in
Paris, Tuesday, Jan.14, 2020. (Christophe Ena/AP)]
Demonstrators march during a protest against pension reforms in Paris,
Tuesday, Jan.14, 2020. (Christophe Ena/AP)

By
James McAuley <https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/james-mcauley/>

PARIS — French transport strikes continued for a 42nd day on Wednesday, as
a government compromise over the national retirement age failed to persuade
certain trade unions to call off the disruptions that have rocked the
country.

On Wednesday, three important French ports — Marseille, Le Havre and La
Rochelle — were totally blocked. Air traffic controllers also joined the
strike, which Air France said would cause moderate interruptions
<https://www.airfrance.fr/FR/en/common/page_flottante/hp/news-air-traffic-air-france.htm>
in
medium- and short-haul flights through Thursday.

Since early December, trade unions have protested President Emmanuel
Macron’s controversial plans to reform France’s famously byzantine
retirement system, under which 42 separate schemes govern different types
of public sector employees.

Macron’s idea was to centralize these schemes into a single, points-based
system in which some workers would gain while others — including transport
workers on high-speed train lines and the Paris Metro — stood to lose.
Crippling transport strikes that continued throughout the holiday season
followed, interrupting travel plans and disrupting the ever-lucrative
tourist industry in major French cities.

On Wednesday, François Villeroy de Galha, governor of the Bank of France,
the country’s central bank, told a parliamentary committee that the strikes
— now France’s longest — had reduced economic growth in the fourth quarter
of 2019 by as much as 0.1 percent.

To break the impasse, French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe suggested a
compromise over the weekend: For the moment, the government will drop the
so-called “pivot age” of 64, which is when workers would qualify for a full
pension under Macron’s new universal scheme, compared to France’s current
official retirement age of 62.

The government also announced that it would delay making any crucial
decisions about funding France’s famously generous retirement system until
the end of April, although that delay does not foreclose eventual cuts.

The pivot age has been a particular point of contention from the beginning
of the strikes, and some unions — including France’s moderate Democratic
Confederation of Labor (CFDT) — were heartened by the government’s decision
to shelve it.

The CFDT “welcomes the withdrawal of the pivot age from the bill, a
withdrawal that marks the government’s will to compromise,” the union said
in a statement
<https://www.cfdt.fr/portail/presse/communiques-de-presse/la-cfdt-a-obtenu-le-retrait-de-l-age-pivot-et-poursuit-son-action-pour-un-systeme-de-retraite-plus-juste-srv2_1086728?preview=true&stateChanged=true>.
“In this spirit, the CFDT will continue discussions within the framework
proposed to answer the questions that remain about the future universal
regime.”

Likewise, the worst of the transit strikes has ended.
[image: A striker holds a smoke canister during a demonstration Tuesday,
Jan. 14, 2020, in Marseille, southern France. (Daniel Cole/AP)]
A striker holds a smoke canister during a demonstration Tuesday, Jan. 14,
2020, in Marseille, southern France. (Daniel Cole/AP)

In Paris, all 14 Metro lines are now running, although all except for the
two that run automatically are operating on a shortened schedule, mostly to
cover peak rush-hour times in the mornings and late afternoons.

On the immediate outskirts of the capital, three out of four suburban
Transilien trains are running, while eight out of 10 longer-haul commuter
trains are now in service, according to the SNCF
<https://twitter.com/SNCF/status/1217113943220670469>, France’s national
rail company.

Across the country, about 80 percent of France’s renowned high-speed TGV
rail service is also back in operation, the SNCF reported.

But not all unions bosses were satisfied. Philippe Martinez, general
secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), wrote a blistering
letter
<https://www.cgt.fr/actualites/france/retraite/reponse-au-courrier-du-premier-ministre>
to
the prime minister on Tuesday, rejecting his apparent olive branch.

Martinez attacked what he called the “many uncertainties, inaccuracies or
absence of content on different modalities” that he believes remain in the
government’s plans.

“Contrary to what you claim, the government’s strategy, its conception of
dialogue and listening are not likely to appease the level of
dissatisfaction and mobilization that exists in our country,” he wrote.

Reforming France’s retirement system, known here as the “mother of all
reforms,” has been a priority for Macron since his election in 2017.
Previous presidents who have attempted similar overhauls have failed, with
most caving in to the demands of unions after crippling strikes.

Macron may still ultimately get his way, even if protests are slated to
continue and his government has already walked back the proposal to raise
the full retirement age. The rest of the proposals remain intact, and they
are likely to be approved by the French parliament early this year.

*James McAuley is Paris correspondent for The Washington Post. He holds a
PhD in French history from the University of Oxford, where he was a
Marshall Scholar.*

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