France - Massive strikes against pension reform plans - May 27, 2010

Tens of thousands of workers, mainly from the public sector, staged a show of force on May 27 against President Sarkozy’s plans to make the French work a couple of years more before retirement. Strikes delayed flights and commuter services as well as closing schools, and according to the organising unions the 176 protest manifestations across the country were attended by about one million people. The target of the protest day was the goal of the Sarkozy administration, confirmed this week, of raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 or 63. The socialist opposition has sided with the unions in rejecting any compromise. They are arguing that, despite France’s huge debts and Europe’s financial crisis, retirement at 60 is a precious right that especially protects manual workers.

English: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7138112.ece; http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/27/french-retirement-age-strikes.html

French: http://www.cgt.fr/spip.php?article37408

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.