Pension reform: massive mobilization throughout France

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Several tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Paris on December 17, 2019 to protest against the French government's pension reform. Philippe LOPEZ / AFP

The new day of action in France on Tuesday December 17 against the controversial pension reform project brought together 615,000 demonstrators across the country, according to the French Interior Ministry. The CGT announced 1.8 million people on the street.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the processions gathered 615,000 people in France, including 76,000 in the capital. The government had counted 806,000 on December 5, the first day of this movement and an unlimited strike that has paralyzed the major cities of France for 13 days. The Occurrence cabinet, mandated by a media collective including AFP, counted 72,500 demonstrators in the French capital.

In a tweet, the CGT, leading the protest against this reform which the union calls for outright withdrawal, said that about 1.8 million people had marched Tuesday during " more than 260 demonstrations " throughout the La France.

December 17: 1,800,000 demonstrators in more than 260 demonstrations! 👍✊✊ pic.twitter.com/hYCeOeBdB6

The "yellow vests" still there

Among the tens of thousands of demonstrators, many have chosen to don a yellow vest on Tuesday in the streets of Paris. “ The retirement plan was the last straw that broke the camel's back, analyzes a protester. And I think that people were already fed up with it and that the retirement plan really pushed everyone to take to the streets . "

In the crowd, one of the leaders of the "yellow vests", Jérôme Rodrigues, is also present: he wishes a convergence of struggles. " Today," he explains, " we are joining people who are fighting for their future, for pension problems, and we are all concerned because the majority of" yellow vests "work in the private sector. . We are as concerned as all workers today in France. And it connects the whole fight we have waged for a year: we are fighting for the present. If you want a bright future, the present must already be going well, and it is not going well . "

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To explain this convergence between "yellow vests" and unions, Christian 62 years old puts forward a hypothesis. “ On the roundabouts there were yellow vests but there were also trade unionists, and after a year, there are friendships which are created, bonds which are made and then consciousness it evolves. After a while we say that to win, it's the number, it's the unity and there I believe that the government with its scrapping of the pension plan, finally it unifies all these fights a little ”.

The double fight of healthcare staff

In the procession, there are also interns, nurses and doctors. All deplore a lack of beds, means and consideration. Many of them want to dissociate opposition to pensions and anger at the public hospital.

" Me it's clear, right now right now, when I'm talking to you I'm coming to defend the public hospital," says Isabelle An, neurologist. After, what will happen from the Place de la République is another fight and each of us will decide to go or not, but it is another message . "

Anne Gervais, co-founder of the inter-hospital collective, justifies this strategy. " It's not the same procession, " she explains. We, we talk about hospital, we talk about it for almost ten months. We ask for means, manpower, suitably remunerated personnel. It is not directly pensions . "

But to succeed, many people still associate the two fights. " We must get the message of health heard and also the message of retirement," says Laurent Picon, a hospital unionist in the northern suburbs of Paris. We too are concerned by the pension reform and we do not agree with this reform. We are on the street to express our dissatisfaction. "

Teachers still not convinced by reform

Among teachers who are fairly widely represented in demonstrations all over France, it is still skepticism that prevails over this pension reform. The government has promised a salary increase to maintain the level of pensions, but that is not enough.

" We have a real movement of scale which will continue because the colleagues were extremely disappointed with the announcements of Edouard Philippe who has been crushing absolutely the same elements of language for two years," deplores Benoît Teste, general secretary of the FSU union. We are told that the point value will not go down, which is an absolutely mind-blowing commitment when you know how a point system works. "

Édouard Philippe recalled this Tuesday being open to negotiation, in particular with the CFDT which is for retirement by points but against the establishment of a pivotal age. The other unions, notably the CGT, are asking for the outright withdrawal of this reform. A withdrawal also demanded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of rebellious France, Olivier Faure of the socialist party and Julien Bayou of Europe-Ecology-the Greens, on the sidelines of the demonstration.