• France: The strike against Macron's pension reform loses social support after six weeks of work stoppages
  • French government. "If pension reform is not done now, it will be done by another and it will be brutal"

Parisians begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, after 45 days of uninterrupted stoppages in public transport in the French capital against pension reform.

The National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA), the main union of the drivers of the Paris RATP transport network, announced on Saturday that it will temporarily suspend the unlimited strike from Monday on December 5 on most lines of the metro, buses and suburbs of Paris. This union urges its affiliates to "redirect" the protests towards "other forms of actions . "

The objective of this temporary suspension of the stoppages in the Paris metro by UNSA is to "regain strength" in the face of the massive strike day called for next January 24 by the main unions in the country. That day the pension reform project is presented in the Council of Ministers and the main French unions want to show their rejection with a great mobilization in the streets.

With this announcement from UNSA-RATP, it is expected that as of Monday there will be a significant improvement in traffic on the metro, buses and suburbs of Paris. Only two subway lines of the 16 that the network has and one commuter will remain affected by the strikes . The rest of the RATP unions, more minority than UNSA in the Parisian public transport network, continue, for the moment, with the protests.

After 45 days of uninterrupted stoppages, the RATP strikers, who are not paid when they strike, begin to feel the consequences of their protests in their own pockets . The slope of January is more pronounced for them, despite the fact that unions have established resistance and solidarity funds to financially support their members during the protests.

On the other hand, the inter-union (CGT, FO, Solidaires, FSU and CFE-CGC) and youth organizations urged their affiliates to carry out new protest actions and demonstrations next week, especially on Friday, the day of presentation of the project of pension reform in the Council of Ministers.

SNCF, the French national rail company, announced that on Sunday TGV high-speed train traffic will return to normal, despite the strike against the pension reform continues. And there will also be a significant improvement in the circulation of regional trains .

In SNCF, the equivalent of RENFE in Spain, the main union is the General Confederation of Labor (CGT). This union is the one that has mobilized the most against pension reform. The CGT, the most combative, does not give its arm to twist. This union is determined to continue strikes and street demonstrations until the government withdraws its project.

The strike against the reform of public transport pensions - especially trains throughout France and subways in Paris - began on December 5 and has continued since then with greater or lesser intensity throughout the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to merge the 42 current pension schemes into one and establish a universal point system. With this, he wants to put an end to the "special regimes" that allow, for example, the workers of the SNCF and the Paris metro, to retire earlier or with better conditions than other French workers. Hence, the workers of these two companies are the ones who have mobilized the most against Macron's pension reform.

According to the schedule planned by the government, the National Assembly is expected to begin discussing pension reform as of February 17 to be approved before summer.

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