Macron’s pension pledge has little effect on striking workers

Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to give up presidential privileges and follow the same pension rule he’s proposing for all French isn’t doing much to appease striking workers.

In response to a question about his own pension rights from French daily Le Parisien, Macron said late on Saturday that he too would respect the same rules he was seeking to introduce for workers in France. The newspaper reported that he would give up his right to a pension for life that French presidents enjoy under a 1955 law, and instead switch to a points-based calculation.

Labour unions, which have led opposition to Macron’s plans, have vowed to continue striking and marching during Christmas and into January. The CGT labour confederation said on Monday that it was planning actions every day during the holiday season and stuck to its demands that the government withdraw its planned reform. The union’s railroad branch had earlier told AFP it would hold a concert at the Austerlitz train station in central Paris on Christmas Eve, as well as dinners in other stations.

Some workers in fuel depots have started blocking facilities in Lavéra in Southern France, and others threaten to follow. Energy grid workers at EDF resorted to localised “sabotage” actions, temporarily cutting power to households or stadiums.

Paris Metro is still severely disrupted, and less then half of the trains are planned to run across France on Tuesday.

A year after facing the violent Yellow Vests protests that he had to placate with €17bn in public spending, Macron’s credibility is at stake in the latest standoff. The investment banker-turned-politician rose to power on a promise to modernise the French state and made the plan a cornerstone of his presidential platform.

Opposition to Macron’s reform, however, has gripped the country since December 5 with disruptions for commuters and travelers causing havoc, particularly in and around Paris. Most unions have refused a truce during the festivities, as asked for by the more moderate CFDT union and the government.

42 separate pension regimes

Macron’s gesture to forfeit presidential perks is the latest measure to try to break a deadlock with French unions over his plans to overhaul the pension system. The proposal, which aims to merge 42 separate regimes into a single, universal, points-based system, also offers incentives to raise the age for full retirement benefits to 64 from 62.

“Everyone has the same rules, even the president,” junior economy minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said on RTL radio on Monday. “If we want to be credible, collectively, then we have to apply the same rules.” 

The proposal is slated to be unveiled in the French cabinet on January 22 for a first debate in parliament in February. That leaves little time for the two sides to find an accord. On Monday the government will reveal its schedule for proposed talks in January with labour and business unions. Prime minister Édouard Philippe organised a new round of talks after last week’s negotiations failed to convince even the moderate unions that his cabinet would back down on some contentious measures.

A poll by Ifop for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed public approval of the movement against the pension reform had fallen a further three points to 51%.

With Rudy Ruitenberg

Bloomberg