Against planned pension reform – strike in France paralyzes traffic – News

  • Because of the French government’s planned pension reform, workers in various sectors are going on strike in France after unions had called for it.
  • In the refineries of the TotalEnergies Group, 70 to 100 percent of the employees would go on strike, reports the AFP news agency.
  • There are also restrictions on traffic and electricity supply.
  • The traffic on the Métro in Paris was already affected in the morning, as the responsible transport company announced.

Trains stand still, schools are closed, unions are on the streets: a massive day of strikes against the French government’s pension reform has begun in France. In the morning, demonstrations gathered in Nice, Marseille and Toulouse, as could be seen on videos. Emmanuel Macron’s government is calling for a “blockade” of the country to be avoided.

The national railway company SNCF expects traffic to be “very badly disrupted”, with every fifth or even every third high-speed train (TGV) and on average hardly one in ten regional trains running, depending on the route. Deputy Transport Minister Clément Beaune also warned of severe disruptions in transport and called for trips to be postponed.

According to the RATP transport company, metro traffic in Paris was already severely restricted in the morning, with one metro line being completely closed and twelve other lines only partially operating. The strike movement against the pension reform was also followed in most of the TotalEnergies refineries by 70 to 100 percent strikers, as the group’s CGT announced. “Supplies have been suspended everywhere,” Eric Sellini, the union’s national coordinator for TotalEnergies, told AFP. The CGT refinery union federation has called for a single day of strikes this week and more work stoppages next week and the week after.

Schools closed and ferry services affected

Flights were canceled at Paris airports. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation had asked the airlines to cancel one in five flights at Paris Orly Airport on the day of the strike. According to their largest trade union, 70 percent of primary school teachers will also not be teaching in the education system and numerous schools will remain closed. Strikes are also planned in the electricity sector.

Pension reform: That’s what Macron’s government is planning


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The government under President Emmanuel Macron wants to gradually raise the regular retirement age from 62 to 64 years. In addition, the number of payment years required for a full pension should increase more quickly. A number of individual systems with privileges for certain professional groups are to be abolished. However, people who started working particularly early or whose working conditions are exceptionally tough should retire earlier.

The ferry service on the English Channel between Calais and Dover has already come to a standstill. As the port in Dover, England, announced, all connections to and from Calais in France were suspended from 7 a.m., so operations should not resume until 2 p.m. Ferries to and from Dunkerque in France are in use as planned, it said. Passengers have been asked to prepare for increased traffic around the port of Dover.

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