Protests and disruption in France as transport workers start strikes

theguardian.com:

France faced street protests and heavy disruption on Tuesday as transport workers and refinery staff began rolling strikes over Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age to 64.

For the sixth time since the start of the year, unions called a nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations, aiming to repeat the large turnout seen on the first major protest, on 19 January, when more than a million people marched against the pension changes.

The disruption is expected to be greater and last longer as rail unions called for rolling, open-ended strikes, which could affect all national trains as well as international routes including the Eurostar.

Local urban buses and subway trains in large cities were affected, as were airlines, with up to 30% of flights cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday as air traffic controllers strike.

“The idea is to bring France to a standstill,” said Fabrice Michaud, of the railway workers’ branch of the CGT trade union.

The transport minister, Clément Beaune, told France 3 TV station it would be “one of the most difficult” strike days for travellers since the start of the protests.

Some students, including at Rennes 2 University in Brittany, began blockading faculties on Monday night. Some schools closed on Tuesday as teachers staged a one-day strike. Bin collections were also affected in several cities.

Macron’s proposals to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and increase the number of years of work required to claim a full pension are being debated in the French senate.

The president has been left severely undermined on the domestic front after his centrist grouping failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary elections last June amid gains for the far right and radical left.

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