For the second day of mobilization against the pension reform, Tuesday, January 31, 2.2 million people demonstrated in France, including 500,000 in Paris, according to the CGT, while the police evoke 1.2 million demonstrators in the country and 87,000 in the capital.
Beyond the figures, the new call for a strike and demonstration launched by the inter-union was particularly followed.
In the Parisian procession, young and dynamic, many women marched, after learning in the impact study released by the government that the shift in the retirement age from 62 to 64 could penalize them. particularly.
France 24 collected the testimonies of several demonstrators, of all ages and all professions.
Well, if that's how it is, let's not have any more children!
Nathalie, 57, executive in the local public service
Nathalie, 58, executive in the territorial public service © Lou Roméo, France 24
"I decided to come and demonstrate because I started working very early, at 17 and a half. I started as an agent and I was lucky enough to be able to ride throughout my career.
With this reform, I'm going to have to work until I'm over 63, instead of 62. And honestly, when you started at 17, you get tired.
I had two children, and the reform will participate in canceling the taking into account of maternity leave.
That pisses me off even more.
Since that's how it is, okay, well, let's not have any more children!
It is once again inequality at work, when we already know that women receive less in salary… Having children is not nothing.
Of course, it's not a job, we do it for ourselves, but the world continues to turn thanks to the children we bring into the world, thanks to the young people who follow.
It's revolting.
This reform does not make sense, it will not bring in more money.
It's not true.
Two days ago, one of my colleagues retired.
We just found out he has prostate cancer.
Well, he's 64 years old.
It's upsetting."
I don't want to see my mother die at work
Emma, 18 years old, animator in a leisure center
Emma, 18, activity leader in a leisure center © Lou Roméo, France 24
"I passed my baccalaureate last year. I have no complaints, it's my first year of work, but I see every day how much my parents struggle, and how hard it is for them to work in the trades they do.
My mother is Atsem [technical and educational assistant in kindergarten, Ed] and has a lot of back problems.
She is 51 years old, I see her suffer every day and I don't want to see her die at work.
She couldn't come today because of her back problems, so I'm here for her too.
Women are penalized by the reform, and this is particularly unfair.
They tell me: 'we have to stop with feminism, it's good, you have the same rights as us', but it's not true.
The patriarchy is still present.
It's unfair, we see people suffer, and we can't leave them in such a state.
We have to fight.
I hope to have a retirement, I may live in a world of care bears but I still have hope, and I think I will always fight for the things I believe in."
If we made up for the wage inequalities between men and women, we could compensate for what is missing for pensions
Leslie, 38, drinking water network technician at Véolia
Leslie, 38, water network technician at Véolia © Lou Roméo, France 24
"Macron wants us to work until the age of 64, and this is unacceptable. Today, if we made up for the wage inequalities between men and women, the contributions could compensate for what could be missing in the coffers of pensions. So, by catching up with inequalities, we could avoid working until the age of 64. And when you look at the figures, only 7% of workers agree with the reform. This is not legitimate.
Emmanuel Macron was elected twice against Marine Le Pen, at some point he also has to question himself.
It has to stop at some point!
We're not here to work till we die."
It's the third manifestation of my whole life, but I'm going to continue, next week, the one after… Until it folds
Jeanne, 26 years old, schoolteacher
Jeanne, 26, schoolteacher © Lou Roméo, France 24
"With my colleagues, we agreed to demonstrate because we don't want to go to school until the age of 64. It's impossible to work at 64 as a school teacher, the energy that it takes !
If the reform passes, I will change jobs after a while, I don't see myself doing this for so long.
We have a lot of things to manage, we are always thinking about it… Corrections, managing difficult students, meetings with parents… There are a lot of things to do.
It can't be our life until 64.
It's huge in terms of working time, and even if we often say "we have the holidays", it's not enough.
I don't want the other trades to contribute for 43 years either.
The government says that the reform will help women with split careers, but they also say that it will penalize us, and no, for all women, it is not possible.
If they improved the reform to align us, for once, with the men, it would be a good thing, but it would not be enough.
The reform will remain unfair.
I'm almost never going to protest, it's the third protest of my whole life, but I'm going to continue, next week, the one after… Until it folds.
We will try everything, I hope it will work."
As with everything, it's more complicated for women
Sarah*, 34, AP-HP emergency nurse
Sarah, caregiver, 34 years old © lou
"I'm here because we won't be able to work until the end of time. My job is exhausting, I work from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., we treat 180 patients in one night for about twenty caregivers. I does not plan to work until the age of 64. It seems far away to me, but above all, it seems impossible to me for things to continue like this.
To read: Pension reform: who are the winners and the losers?
I also want to defend the rights of my son, who is only 12 years old.
I wish he could retire one day, too.
I am worried about my child.
And as a mother, I stop when he's sick, when there's a problem.
As with everything, it's more complicated for women.
We will be paid a little less, we will have to work a little more… Everything has to be redone.
Concretely, for women, everything has to be redone."
* The first name has been changed at the request of the person concerned
I can't see myself working at 64 in heat waves
Manon, 26, urban planner in an environmental design office
Manon, 26, urban planner © Lou Roméo, France 24
"I'm here today because I don't see myself working at 64 in the heat waves. Retirement seems very far away, but my future, I see it in terms of living comfort. And working more and later, when we already know that it's going to be very hard to live in high temperatures, even for people in their thirties or forties, that seems unjustifiable to me. We already have thousands of deaths during heat waves, and they are elderly people. The older we get, the more vulnerable we are to high heat. So, making us work later, without adapting living or working conditions…
In my job, I see how the city is going to be affected by the heat in the summer, and it's unlivable.
The government is not doing enough to limit rising temperatures, nor is it doing enough to adapt cities.
We can already see that the accommodation is not suitable, that the hospitals no longer have the money to receive people in difficulty... The system is not capable of being resilient in the face of this threat.
It is an unfair reform, which goes with everything Macron has been doing from the start, and which is not going in the right direction for society to move forward."
The government gives lots of gifts to the rich, and continues to hit the same
Anne-Julie, 43, civil servant
Anne-Julie, 43, civil servant © Lou Roméo, France 24
"This reform is unjustified and unjustifiable. The deficit does not justify it, there are other ways to recover money. Especially since it will be the precarious and women who will be particularly affected, when it is already these people who struggle, in fact, on a daily basis and throughout their lives. I don't understand. The government gives lots of gifts to the rich and continues to hit the same people. I am lucky not to have any course cut, but I think of all the people who are in this case, and who are going to have ridiculous retirements.That's also why I'm here.
It is all good for the government to have dead retirees, since the person will have contributed all his life and will not receive anything: 23% of poor workers do not live beyond 64 years, against only 5% among the richest.
The inequality is already there, and we are going to accentuate it even more.
It's scandalous.
We need the pure and simple withdrawal of this reform.
"We must put pressure on the deputies of the majority, write and go see them in their constituencies to explain to them how sad this reform is and how much we are opposed to it"
Manu and Joanna pic.twitter.com/BP66QlT4EV
— Lou Romeo (@RomoLou1) January 31, 2023
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