As Macron Govt Unveils Plan To Raise Retirement Age, French Workers Vow “Mother Of All Battles”

The French government has proposed raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 in a major reform to the pension system, a move that will likely to trigger mass strikes and protests.

The Macron government has already met with fierce pushback and anger over earlier similar proposals and major overhaul attempts.

The latest plan unveiled Tuesday by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne proposes raising legal retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, just stopping short of Macron’s previously proposed 65.

ZeroHedge reports: The Macron government has argued a major overhaul is urgently necessary to stave off a coming huge deficit in the system. Macron has been pushing for such reforms since his first election in 2017. 

According to the details of the plan as summarized in BBC:

• A full pension from 2027 will require working for 43 years (instead of 42 years currently)
• Guaranteed minimum pension income of not less than 85% of the net minimum wage, roughly €1,200 (£1,060) per month at current levels, for new retirees
• Police officers, prison guards, air traffic controllers and other public workers in jobs deemed physically or mentally arduous will keep the right to retire early
• Their retirement age will be increased by the same number of years as the wider labor force
• End to so-called “special regimes” with different retirement ages and benefits for rail workers, electricity and gas workers, among others.

Some of the above listed ‘sweeteners’ such as the increase in minimum pension to around €1,200 over and above the current €900 is an attempt to win the public’s support ahead of it being presented to parliament in the next weeks.

Widely cited recent polls point to around 70-80% of the population opposing Macron’s desired retirement age of 64. Already labor unions are planning large protests to begin next week, including some strikes set to begin Jan.19, with the FT citing the following union leaders touting they are ready for the “mother of all battles”:

Frédéric Souillot, head of the Force Ouvrière union, put the government on notice earlier this week that unions were willing to shut down the economy to stop the pensions law. “If for Emmanuel Macron this is the mother of all reforms, then for us it is the mother of all battles,” he said.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called the proposal a “grave social regression”, while Le Pen called it “unjust” and said the French could count on her far-right party’s “total determination” to block it.

Protests have already been growing in some locales, with larger demonstrations expected next week…