France is mobilizing against raising the retirement age

Paris (EFE).- French unions claimed this Tuesday that they had won greater mobilization against the pension reform of Emmanuel Macron’s governmentfrom whom they asked to listen to them and give up the project, which in the meantime is going through the parliamentary procedure.

Secretary General in French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT, the first trade union in the country)Laurent Berger, which day is considered “historic” because it was “the biggest mobilization in the last 40 years”.

Berger, who along with other union leaders headed the tour in Paris, insisted to the media that Macron and his executive “cannot remain deaf” in the face of “massive” protests.

In a parallel line, General Secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Philippe Martínezwhich today is considered “the largest mobilization since the beginning of the conflict” in January, even above that of the 31st of that month.

On January 31, 1.27 million people took to the streetsaccording to the police, and up to 2.8 million, according to the CGT.

Martínez insisted that the united action of the union had achieved “what we wanted was to paralyze France” with strikes in different sectors such as transport, energy or education, but also in the private sector.

For the leader of the CGT, the “success” of this call means that he has gone “into another gear” in the protest against the government which, if he does not withdraw the reform, “he would just light the pyre”.

The draft law of the executive branch, which is now going through the parliamentary process in the Senate and must be completed before the end of the month, In particular, the postponement of the minimum retirement age from the current 62 years to 64 years is foreseen.

Martinez assumed it “Strikes will become general in many sectors” and, not wanting to predict where they will stay in the coming days, assures that many workers’ unions have already decided.

This Tuesday, congestion is particularly visible in public transportbut also with truck drivers blocking access to cities like Lille, Rennes, Perpignan, Saint Brieux or Cannes and with much less traffic than usual: 650 kilometers of accumulated traffic jams at 8 am, instead of more than 900 normally.