French Workers Strike: ‘No’ to Raising Retirement Age
More than 2.5 million workers protested throughout France September 7 as the country’s largest union federations called a 24-hour strike protesting proposed cuts to the public pension system, the equivalent of Social Security. There were some 220 protests, according to the CGT, the country’s leading union federation.
Walkouts shut down several of France’s high-speed train lines and caused the cancellation or delay of a quarter of flights from Paris airports. The strike closed countless schools and significantly reduced public transit throughout the country.
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan would raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for a full pension from 65 to 67.
Sarkozy insists he has no option. Like most industrialized countries, France has seen the number of seniors rise faster than the working-age population, due to the aging of the baby boomer generation, declining fertility rates, and rising life expectancy. At the same time, young people tend to start working later in life than they did decades ago.
These trends have meant a decrease in the proportion of the population contributing to the pension system and an increase in the proportion receiving benefits, while pensioners collect for a longer time.
The government says the large annual deficit in the pension system can be fixed only by raising the retirement age.
TWO-THIRDS OF PUBLIC SUPPORTS
Workers agree that something needs to be done but are rallying against the government’s plan of attack. Polls show that close to two-thirds of the population supported the September 7 national strike and more than half want the government to keep its hands off the retirement age.
The CGT federation says the pension deficit can be fixed without touching the retirement age. Leaders argue that the deficit has been driven more by massive job losses than by demographic trends.
Today, 10 percent of French workers are without jobs. In 2009 alone, some 680,000 jobs were lost, reducing the salary base for the pension fund by 1.4 percent. A strategy to create millions of jobs would increase pension fund contributions.
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Equally, the CGT says the government should increase pension contributions for employers and close loopholes that deprive the fund of billions of dollars each year. For example, income derived from stock options and other investment income is not taxed for pension contributions.
THEY WON BEFORE
The French have a history of fighting to save their pensions. In 1995, when the government proposed similar cutbacks, workers took to the streets by the millions. Early strikes by rail and air workers crippled many of the country’s transport links and ignited action among teachers and utility, postal, and health care workers.
Militancy soon spilled over into the private sector. Ports were blockaded, causing the government to deploy troops to prevent fuel shortages. Thousands of unemployed workers joined struggles along the way. After weeks of strikes that brought the country to a halt, workers claimed victory as the government scrapped its cutback plans.
The September 7 mobilization was as large as those that arose in 1995, but it remains to be seen whether workers can translate those numbers into the kind of strength that forced the government back on its heels 15 years ago.
The country’s largest unions are targeting September 23 for their next national strike and day of mobilization. Opinion polls suggest that public anger against the proposed cutbacks is not disappearing.
“If they don’t respond and they don’t pay heed, there’ll be a follow-up, and nothing is ruled out at this stage,” Bernard Thibault, general secretary of the CGT, told a Paris rally.
Jason Stanley is in France researching cutbacks to government benefits.