The Hindu : Pension reforms evoke massive protests in Paris

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 26, 2003

International

International

Pension reforms evoke massive protests in Paris

By Vaiju Naravane

Paris May 25. Several hundred thousand protesters choked the streets of Paris today in what has been described as the biggest demonstration to be staged in the French capital in over 20 years. The demonstrations have been called by trades unions in protest against government plans to reform the country's generous pension system.

Protesters began arriving in Paris early this morning and by noon the entire 6-km route between Nation and Republique, two major right bank landmarks, was a sea of slogan-shouting people. Organisers said there were over a million people in the streets. Police placed the figure at closer to half a million.

Union leaders sent welcoming committees to the capital's main rail stations to direct demonstrators to the Place de la Nation, where the march began at noon. Thousands were seen heading for the rally kick-off point one hour before, chanting slogans and bearing placards and banners, carrying drums, tambourines and whistles. Parallel protests were held in the southern port of Marseille, the western city of Nantes, and the central city of Tours to accommodate those unable to get to the capital.

The powerful trades unions hope that the massive turnout will put extra pressure on the Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin's centre-right government at the start of a critical period for the controversial bill.

The measure is expected to be approved at a key Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, with a fresh wave of threatened strikes in transport and across the public sector looming.

Mr. Raffarin has faced mounting opposition to his proposals, which are intended to protect France's costly "pay-as-you-go'' system from an imminent demographic crunch by making employees — especially in the extensive public sector — work for more years in order to receive a pension.

Ministers say that without reform, the system will have an annual deficit of 50 billion euros ($58.9 billions) by 2020, but unions say the Government's plans place an undue burden on the workforce.

In a commentary published Sunday in Le Journal du Dimanche, the Social Affairs Minister, Francois Fillon, wrote: "An increase in the length of the contributions period is inescapable. Those who claim the opposite are lying!''

More than one million people turned out for a series of demonstrations on May 13; since then, the country's 800,000 teachers have spearheaded the movement, adding the pensions issue to their long list of grievances.

During an official visit to Canada on Saturday, Mr. Raffarin said he was heading home to France on Sunday "confident, attentive, yet very firm and determined'' as he faced the protest, insisting pension reform was necessary to benefit future generations.This is likely to be the onset of a turbulent summer for France with strikes likely to paralyse and further hurt an already ailing economy. Transport, postal and other public sector workers, including teachers and hospital personnel will strike work on Tuesday, when a work stoppage by air traffic controllers is expected to result in the cancellation of 80 per cent of all flights in and out of France.

Rail and Paris metro travel is under threat from June 3, when workers there start an open-ended strike — though as beneficiaries of special pension regimes, they are unaffected by the bill. In a survey conducted by the IFOP polling institute for the Sunday newspaper Dimanche Ouest-France, 55 per cent said the Government should launch a new round of negotiations with the unions to resolve the dispute.

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