Two more years of work, for them, it is impossible. This is why for two weeks, garbage collectors have been mobilized and refuse to resume garbage collection. If the reform is...Pension reform in France: Parisian garbage collectors determined not to work two more years The mayor of Paris estimates that as of Sunday, March 19, the volume of waste not collected in the streets is equivalent to 9,600 tons. AFP - ERIC FEFERBERG Text by: RFI Follow 2 min Two more years of work, for them, it is impossible. This is why for two weeks, garbage collectors have been mobilized and ref

Pension reform in France: Parisian garbage collectors determined not to work two more years

The mayor of Paris estimates that as of Sunday, March 19, the volume of waste not collected in the streets is equivalent to 9,600 tons. AFP - ERIC FEFERBERG

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Two more years of work, for them, it is impossible. This is why for two weeks, garbage collectors have been mobilized and refuse to resume garbage collection. If the reform is passed, garbage collectors and sanitation workers will retire at 59 instead of 57.

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Household waste continues to accumulate on the sidewalks of streets in the Paris region. The strike of garbage collectors against the pension reform, renewable for two weeks, can be seen with the naked eye.

At the incineration site of Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), about thirty people maintain the picket lines. All testify to the arduousness of their jobs, their bodies every day put to the test. "Every day, I get up at 4:45 a.m. to carry between six and 16 tons of garbage. I have tendonitis in both elbows. Lumbar pain, we don't even talk about it anymore. We are marked by the body by the work, "sighs Karim Kerkoudi who makes his calculations. For him, it will be 67 years for a full pension.

This morning in support of the TIRU of Ivry-sur-Seine to the garbage collectors and employees on strike against retirement at 64 years old ✊

They are the pride of the Nation!#SoutienAuxEboueurs pic.twitter.com/csIwUAghpX

— Mathilde Panot (@MathildePanot) March 17, 2023 is not here to make a mess. We are here not to work until death," said another garbage collector interviewed by AFP. Heavy dumpsters, foul odours, traffic and sometimes difficult contact with motorists: their working days constantly put them in a situation of intense stress and significant fatigue.

At the garage in Romainville, east of Paris, the same goes for explaining the reason for the strike. At the beginning of his career, a dumpster driver earns around 1,450 euros and can hope to finish it with 2,200 euros. In front of the site, a filtering barrier was set up after a requisition by the police. Of the 80 trucks, only a dozen left the garage to operate in Paris.

Arm wrestling between the town hall and the State

The mayor of Paris refused the requisitions of garbage collectors to limit the effects of their strike. This explains why in the streets of Paris, waste is piling up. For Anne Hidalgo, "the demand of the garbage collectors of the City of Paris, who legitimately wish not to work two more years (...) is fair" and "the only response likely to calm the current climate is to engage in social dialogue rather than engage in a showdown by making requisitions".

#EboueursEnGreve: "I respect the choice of Anne Hidalgo but I regret it, she did not wish to take her responsibilities"@GDarmanin in #RTLMatin with @amandine_begot pic.twitter.com/51zT6NCq7f

— RTL France (@RTLFrance) March 17, 2023 Will the Paris police prefect make requisitions for reasons of "public health"? This is what the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin suggested before the Senate.

This Monday, March 20, two motions of censure were filed against the government of Elisabeth Borne. They will be put to the vote of the deputies. If they do not win an absolute majority, the pension reform will be definitively adopted, despite the protest and garbage collectors and sanitation workers will retire at 59 instead of 57.

Pension reform in France: Parisian garbage collectors determined not to work two more years

Pension reform in France: Parisian garbage collectors determined not to work two more years

Arm wrestling between the town hall and the State

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