by SYLVESTRE JAFFARD
On Thursday 19 January, millions of workers marched against French president Emmanuel Macron’s proposed pension reforms. The action, essentially a one-day general strike, was organised by the trade unions in what is expected to be a lengthy battle with the state. Everyone, from seasoned left-wing unionists to the right-wing media has noted this was an unexpectedly high level of mobilisation. But Macron is determined to push his reforms through.
In recent decades struggles against the consistent downgrading of France’s pension system have been flashpoints of class struggle. As one activist recently put it ‘this is our world cup’. In 1995, 2003, 2010 and 2019-20, millions of workers protested similar reforms. Most of the time the battle was lost – the pension age elevated and its conditions worsened. In 1993, after a 37.5 year career, you could retire at 60 on a full pension. Today, it’s 43 years of contributions to retire at 62. After the current proposals, it’ll be 64. But pockets of victories also took place. Memories of the 1995 victory against the notorious ‘Plan Juppé’ (named after the then prime minister) remain. In 2019-20, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic also forced Macron to shelve earlier plans for pension reforms.
Today French workers are also mobilising because inflation has leapt from under one percent in 2020 to nearly seven per cent today. Similar to the UK, waves of strikes are underway: in hospitals, oil refineries, factories, and workplaces where action has not typically been common such as supermarkets. As the cost of living leaps upward, patience with government plans is running low.
Tired excuses
The government is using vacuous justifications for cutting pensions. We’ve heard it before: ‘people live older and therefore should work longer’, ‘there are fewer people in work per pensioner in today’s economy’, ‘other countries have already adopted these reforms’ and the classic, ‘the system is in crisis and we must cut costs in order to save it’.
But right now there is no deficit in the pension system – the reforms are only supposed to avert deficits forecast for the future – so the government’s narrative of a system in crisis is only serving to antagonise workers. Feelings of injustice are compounded by the fact that the planned reforms are part of a wider package which include tax cuts for businesses. Cuts that are explicitly costed, and offset, by these cuts to the pension system.
Red Pepper for ore