"It will be a very, very strong mobilization. It must be at the level of 1995, even of 2010", declared Sunday on France 3 the number one of the CGT, Philippe Martinez.

In the Sunday newspaper, the national secretary of the PCF, Fabien Roussel urged "one million" French people "to break into the street" Thursday.

The CGT "does everything so" that there are more than a million French people at the rendezvous, declared Philippe Martinez who also wants "strikes in public and private companies".

He said he relied on the "number of buses ordered to go to the demonstrations", the "strike notices filed a long time ago" in public services and transport, and the many employees "who call us to ask us how we go on strike" .

For his part, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt "thinks that there will be people in the street because there is a mobilization carried by many organizations".

Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt on January 12, 2023 at the National Assembly in Paris © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP/Archives

“Trade unions have legitimacy when they call for a strike or a demonstration,” continued the minister when questioned on France Inter/France Télévisions and Le Monde.

"It's a right. I hope it doesn't result in the country being blocked because a lot of people want to continue working."

The government's plan aims to gradually raise the retirement age to 64, instead of the current 62, while accelerating the extension of the contribution period.

The main unions, unanimously opposed to this reform, announced a first day of strikes and demonstrations on January 19.

The whole of the left called to join the mobilization.

According to an Ifop poll for the JDD, 68% of French people are hostile to the project, and 51% support the social movement.

An online petition launched by the unions on the change.org site against an "unfair and brutal" reform had exceeded 330,000 signatories late Sunday morning, according to the CGT.

"We must balance the system to guarantee its sustainability and do it in a fair way. All the measures that we have worked on with the social partners and the Prime Minister guarantee this justice", pleaded the Minister of Labor, arguing the revaluation of the small pensions at a minimum of 1,200 euros.

The president of the MoDem, François Bayrou, asked the government on Sunday to do more pedagogy and to "think about improvements" to its text on pensions to convince the French.

© 2023 AFP