Macron not backing down as French unions galvanise strike action
Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron faced mass protests on Thursday as trade unionists seek to galvanise angry students, public-sector workers and striking train drivers into a joint movement against his multi-pronged drive to overhaul the French economy. The hard-line CGT union has urged the broad spectrum of groups opposed to Macron’s overhauls to come together on the streets, with some left-wingers dreaming of a re-run of the huge May 1968 demonstrations that shook France half a century ago. Pressure has been mounting on Macron nearly a year since the centrist swept to power, with a survey by Ifop-Fiducial released on Wednesday suggesting that 58% of voters were unhappy with his presidency. But unions have also struggled to muster public support for their opposition movements, in particular the strikes aimed at torpedoing the emblematic overhaul of the state rail operator SNCF. "They are in the street because they don’t want anything to change," Macron said during a trip on ...
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