Cost of living crisis hits French workers |

PARIS, Feb 1 (Reuters) – French iron way employee Franck Viger-Brunet says that he and his friends the president Emmanuel Macron pension they must carefully calculate the cost of the vacation to force them to back out of plans to raise their age to 64 by two years. .

A 58-year-old member of the CGT trade union said, “We pay for our vacation days. I allocated a budget for the last month so that I could have a one-month holiday (against this reform)… We must continue.” he said at a march in Paris on Tuesday during the second nationwide strike against the reform.

In what could prove a prolonged standoff, unions and their members are scrambling to minimize the impact on personal finances, strained by the worst housing crisis in decades.

55 years old child for garden worker Said Bellahecene, this meant working Tuesday mornings so he could take the afternoon off to avoid losing a full day’s pay.

“I’ve got two kids and rent to pay, but I’m willing to lose a few weeks (of pay) and shut down the country rather than lose two years (under the reform),” he said. demo.

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More than 1.2 million people took part in Tuesday’s demonstration, slightly more than the first demonstration of force on January 19, although the state iron way Firms including operator SNCF and state-controlled electricity group EDF reported fewer workers going on strike.

This means that it will be difficult to keep up the pressure as the reform rages through parliament over the next two months.

Vacation funds

Unions have so far shown a rare show of unity, with hard-line CGT leader Philippe Martinez raising the specter of rolling strikes despite the financial sacrifices expected for many workers.

“The government wants to reduce the anger, we have to change the pace,” Martinez said on France Inter radio on Wednesday.

Unions so far labour they tried to hold strikes to minimize their loss of rights. The next strike will only take place on February 7, and unions will also go on strike on Saturday, February 11, without paying more workers. protest called for nationwide demonstrations that will allow

French unions generally don’t have permanent strike funds to help members cope, although some will set up occasional catteries funded by donations for a specific cause.

One notable exception, members’ fees, has been BFM TV’s €140 million (€152 million) over the past decade. dollars) is France’s largest union, the CFDT, which helps maintain what it says is a bloated “union activity” fund.

He generally pay legal fees and local holidays to employees compensation Although used to give, now members pension they beg for it to help cover missed payments during their vacation.

“We get tons of questions about whether we can get help,” CFDT head of public service Mylene Jacquot told Reuters.

BROAD OPPOSITION

The government says the pension overhaul, which includes plans to increase how much workers pay into the system, is needed to keep it out of the red for years to come.

But unions say these plans are expensive social constitutes a brutal rollback of rights and their opposition is supported by the wider public, opinion polls show.

However, even before the cost-of-living crisis, French unions struggled to resist government reform plans for decades after mass strikes successfully forced the conservative government to halt a pension overhaul in 1995.

Even so, strikes could still pay off, as the energy sector saw late last year when unions won a pay rise with a series of work stoppages.

The sector is now leading calls for more strikes, with Fabrice Coudour, head of the CGT’s energy division, saying a new round is set for February 6-8.

“All until we stop the reform way we’re raring to go,” Coudour said.

($1 = 0.9182 euros)

By Layley Foroudy and Leigh Thomas reportaddition by Benjamin Mallet and Dominique Vidalon report; Written by Leigh Thomas, edited by Gareth Jones

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

2023-02-02 02:31:11
Source – reuters

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