A week after the second round of the presidential election, many unions and associations have called on the French to mobilize this Sunday for the traditional International Labor Day.
The future pension reform, at the top of the social priorities displayed by Emmanuel Macron, is of particular concern to the demonstrators who came this Sunday.
They were 21,000 to parade in the streets of Paris according to the independent firm Occurrence.
The promise is spread over placards and adorns jackets.
“With the Popular Union, retirement is 60 years!
“, proudly display the Insoumis activists and sympathizers who came in large numbers this Sunday to demonstrate on the occasion of International Labor Day.
Gathered under a radiant sun on the Place de la République in Paris, a crowd largely won over to Jean-Luc Mélenchon listened attentively to the one who already imagines himself Prime Minister of Emmanuel Macron.
“Now it is a question of bringing the retirement age back to 65!
(…) Never forget, nothing has been granted to you, everything has always been snatched away!
“Launched the leader of the Insoumis, the voice covered by the boos caused as soon as the mention of the reform project of the newly reelected President.
Less than two months before the legislative elections, the mere possibility of a postponement of the legal age was the subject, this May 1, of a real tension within the procession.
Difficulty and ecological issues
At only 28 years old, Camille says she is “completely concerned” about the subject: “When we see our parents who find themselves unemployed at the age of 60, we inevitably wonder what meaning it has to always want to postpone this starting age to retirement ".
A former production manager in the cultural sector, the young woman is now training to become a bookseller.
Favorable to the proposal of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who wanted to set the legal threshold at 60, the young woman continues: “For a manager, it is obviously possible to leave later.
But me, if I become a bookseller, I don't know if I'll still be able to lift boxes full of books until I'm 65”.
For Aurélie, 44, and Vincent, 43, the hardship of certain jobs must absolutely be better taken into account by the public authorities in the event of reform.
“I have colleagues, women who live alone, who are forced to continue working to be able to live properly.
But being a teacher at that age becomes really difficult,” explains Aurélie, who teaches history and geography in an establishment in the Paris suburbs.
His spouse pleads for a global questioning of the notion of work in our society: “We cannot reform the pension system effectively if we do not question our current productivist system.
We must take into account future issues, particularly ecological ones, which may require working less or otherwise”.
Sign in hand, Lucien, 31, is an environmental sympathizer.
Supporter of a "convergence of social and ecological struggles", he considers Emmanuel Macron's project "absolutely crazy".
“Setting the start at 62, as is the case today, seems like the maximum to me already.
Especially since the Pensions Orientation Council (COR) has indicated that without reform, the system should be balanced within thirty years, ”underlines the young man.
In its latest report, however, the body recommended retirement at age 64 from 2030 to structurally balance the system “every year until 2070”.
Erase the disparities
Beyond this legal age, several demonstrators demanded a “fairer” pension system, particularly with regard to women.
Indeed, according to the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), French women received on average in 2018 a pension amount 28% lower than that of men.
Flag of the rebellious in hand, Nadia, 65, dreams of a reform capable of erasing these disparities.
“Women are paid less than men on average throughout their lives, are more affected by precarious jobs and career breaks.
Even if there are compensations, these inequalities should be better taken into account, ”she believes.
To finance a "fairer" pension system, Françoise, 57, defends the creation of an additional tax for the wealthiest: "I don't see the point of extending working hours if it's anyway to lay off seniors at 58 and then have to find wealth to finance social benefits”.
Worried and concerned, will these demonstrators have the opportunity to submit their demands to the government?
During the campaign, in early April, Emmanuel Macron considered that the referendum was an instrument that could be "used", including for pension reform.
Before adding that he wanted to "first favor broad political consultation and with the social partners on this subject".
The debates could start as early as this summer.
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