23 August, 2010
In what has been described as a move to win back support from France’s right-wing, President Nicholas Sarkozy is pushing adoption of new legislation to push back the retirement age, and increase public sector workers’ pension contributions in France. Trade unions plan a national protest strike on 7 September.
The National Assembly’s social affairs committee voted in favour of the Bill on 22 July, enabling it to go to Plenary debate in France’s lower house on 7 September, and to the Senate in October. The Bill would raise the legal retirement age from 60 to 62 in the year 2018, and increase the number of years of contributions to 41.5 before workers receive a full pension.
Sarkozy’s low opinion poll ratings were recently compounded by claims of his and UMP party former chief fundraiser Eric Woerth’s financial misconduct, accepting illegal political cash from L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. With the President seeking re-election in 2012, defeat of his pension reform bill would conserve workers’ conditions, but also strike a significant blow to Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party’s election chances.
The mass mobilization planned by France’s trade unions will coincide with the Plenary Session in the lower house, debating the pension bill. The action will seek to fight the proposed pension reforms, and also defend jobs and demand government action for economic recovery.
ICEM French affiliated union FCE-CFDT describes the pension reform and other government austerity measures as “carriers of social injustice”, adding that it is unacceptable that all the financial burden of the economic downturn is passed onto employees in both the public and private sector.