Macron Government Lays Out Reform Timeline Amid Strike

The French government vowed on Thursday to push through pension reform by the end of the winter despite fierce opposition from unions whose first major day of strikes failed to have much impact

Paris, Sept 29 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Sep, 2022 ) :The French government vowed on Thursday to push through pension reform by the end of the winter despite fierce opposition from unions whose first major day of strikes failed to have much impact.

A nationwide day of stoppages called by the CGT union on Thursday -- the first since President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected in April -- caused some disruption, but was not widely followed.

Several unions, including the country's biggest, did not take part, although all of them are gearing up for a months-long battle over efforts to raise the pension age.

Macron made raising the retirement age from its current level of 62 one of the key planks of his re-election campaign, arguing that the current system was unsustainable and too expensive.

"All the unions in France are against working up to 64 or 65 years. Because it's stupid," the head of the CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told France 2.

Left-wing political parties have called their own separate rallies on October 16 to demand pay rises and an end to the planned pension changes.

Though known to be in a rush to push through the changes, Macron's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced Thursday that the government would spend another few months in consultations.

"There are important questions we want to open talks about" with other political parties, unions and employers' groups, Borne told AFP.

"We're starting from the assumption that we'll be able to hold a dialogue," she added.

A bill would be voted on "before the end of the winter", she promised.