Pensions strike snarls France

Fuel deliveries, public transport hit as unions take to the streets

Union officials said protesters aim to "bring France to a standstill" in a sixth wave of strikes over the government's plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 64 which began early on Tuesday.

More than 1 million people hit the streets in more than 260 locations nationwide, according to a source cited by Agence France-Presse.

Industrial action has hit a range of sectors, including schools, airports, energy plants and refineries. Unions warned that there would be "rolling strikes" on public transport that could disable parts of the country for weeks, which is a step up from the daylong strikes seen since January.

"I call on all the country's employees, citizens and retirees who are against the pensions reform to come out and protest en masse," the head of the CFDT union Laurent Berger told France Inter radio station on Monday.

Ministers had warned that the action would have a major impact on public transport services, with almost all scheduled intercity services canceled.

The National SNCF rail network advised commuters that just one in five of its high-speed trains would be operating, while city metro line operators alerted passengers that suburban services would be severely affected.

France's aviation authority DGAC said about one-third of all scheduled flights would be canceled nationwide.

BBC correspondents reported that fuel deliveries had been blocked from all French refineries early on Tuesday. "The strike has begun everywhere," said Eric Sellini of the CGT general union.

Emmanuel Lepine, secretary-general of the CGT, said last week that the aim of blocking fuel deliveries was to "bring the French economy to its knees".

Bringing to a 'standstill'

Workers have vowed to "bring the country to a standstill" over the proposed changes, reported AFP. "We are going into a higher gear," CGT chief Philippe Martinez told the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche. "The mobilizations will continue and grow until the government hears what workers are saying."

President Emmanuel Macron first proposed the plan to raise the retirement age when he was elected in 2017, insisting it was an important step in securing the nation's pension system.

"If we want to keep this system going, we need to work longer," Macron said last month. Unions contested this, saying small increases in contributions would be enough to maintain it.

Government efforts to introduce changes in parliament were delayed in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic, but returned this year.

Under Macron's proposals, the number of years of contributions needed for a full pension will rise faster than previously planned and will be set at 43 years from 2027.

The pension reform bill is now being debated in parliament, and the alliance seeks to push it through without activating a controversial clause that would bypass a parliamentary vote but risk fueling more protests.

French citizens back strikes over the issue, with a poll by Elabe survey group showing 56 percent support for rolling strikes and 59 percent backing the call "to bring the country to a standstill".

Previous polls have revealed how deeply unpopular the proposed reforms are in general, showing up to 80 percent of the population is opposed to pushing the retirement age back to 64.

Parties on both the left and right have vowed to block the pension reforms, and Macron's centrist alliance needs the support of lawmakers from the conservative Republicans party to make up a majority that would allow the reform to be pushed through.