By Maryam Sadr | Staff Writer
France has been facing big waves of strikes since the start of January, right after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced government plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 gradually by 2030. These reforms have been proposed while most workers within France are suffering from the high cost of living and price of food/energy due to COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. While the government has argued repeatedly on the importance of these reforms to meet the pension funding deficit, we observe the complete opposite reaction from its citizens in the matter. People in France not only have not welcomed these reforms proposed by Macron, but also showed their seriousness and anger through the magnitude of these demonstrations. With over one million workers in the streets, France is witnessing the union of eight big industries for the first time since the crowds against the 2010 reforms. These strikes have so far resulted in the disruption of schools, transportation, flights, businesses, industries, and services in the name of fighting against the pension reform plans and demanding the solving of the issue through other means, such as an increase in taxation.
The pension reforms are not something new in Europe. The retirement age in the UK and Germany is 67, and in Spain, 65. These are among the countries that have already enforced these kinds of changes to their systems, and are even planning to increase the age of retirement further in the coming years. However, the case is different in France, since these plans and reforms are facing the direct anger of its citizens. Polls also show that about 70% of French people oppose this plan, which indicates that Macron’s government is facing a hard time.
Whether or not these reforms get enforced, the French economy is already suffering some losses due to these huge strikes, which might continue even if the reforms take place. The UK has faced these kinds of losses before due to the unions going into strikes complaining about inflation and demanding higher wages.
Even though the union seems very committed and serious about its action, Macron has made it very clear that he won’t change his mind about these reforms and that it is necessary for saving the pension system. While Macron and his allies have lost the upper hand within the parliament, we can feel some hope for unions winning this battle. However, considering French people showed the same level of resistance toward the reform plans in 2010 without any positive results, we can assume that this government too will continue with its plans, and ignoring the workers once again.