French against retiring up to 64 years: “Macron wants us dead at work”

“Emmanuel Macron wants us to die in office”says Hamoudi, a Paris garbage collector, who, like hundreds of thousands of others in Francesaid not to work more years, as the French president wishes.

“We get up very early. Some of my classmates get up at three in the morning. Working until the age of 64, frankly, is too much.”emphasizes to AFP Hamoudi, 43 years old.

LOOK: Macron will continue with the pension reform project despite demonstrations and strikes

More than 1.5 million people, according to the CGT union, braved this cold and sometimes rainy winter day across France to protest in the streets, some for the first time.

“I had never manifested because I had not felt really affected. And now, that I’m over forty, I’m really sorry.”confesses Aurélie David, a 42-year-old childcare worker in Nantes (west).

Tendinitis, sciatica, kneecap problems, knee problems -“because we squat, in small chairs and always at the height of the children”-,… The list of consequences of the hardship of your work is long.

The will of the government Macron to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, in turn bringing forward to 2027 the requirement to work 43 years to collect a full pension, generated widespread rejection.

The older workers consider that it will penalize them or lead to more years of unemployment, the younger ones see it as further away to get a job, the workers fear that their health will worsen by working harder for more years…

Bertrand, a 62-year-old pensioner, spent two years unemployed before retiring. In 2021, 56% of active people between 50 and 64 years old worked (35.5% between 60 and 64), according to official data.

With this reform, “they will spend more time unemployed. At 58, 60 years old, they no longer want us in companies. They prefer young people in our place”, emphasizes this former worker in the aeronautical sector.

A protester clashes with the police during a demonstration in Paris on January 19, 2023. (Photo: Thomas SAMSON / AFP) (THOMAS SAMSON /)

Bad life

Before the start of the march in Paris, the song Mala vida by the mythical French group Mano Negra resounds as if it were an omen, while little by little it fills with sheltered protesters.

“Retirement before arthritis”, “Metro, work, grave”, “Lose your life trying to earn it”… The French who responded presently to the unions compete in wits to show their discontent.

Among the crowd, workers of public companies affected by the disappearance of some special pension schemes, but also many young people, who for their part called another demonstration on Saturday.

“They have always told me: ‘You young people will not have a pension.’ Surely I will have to find alternative solutions, but if I can block things from getting worse, I try ”, says Léa, 31 years old.

This temporary public sector worker believes that “the people were not heard” and that, in a post-pandemic world, “the mentality has changed” and people do not want to work “until they can’t anymore”, like past generations.

“I don’t feel like dying before taking advantage of my retirement. If we let this one go, then they will delay it more and more”abounds Inés de Bailliencourt, a 22-year-old student of Classical Philology from Bordeaux (southwest).

With the justification of a future deficit in the pension fund, France The retirement age has been lengthening in recent decades, which until 2010 was 60 years, although it is still far from the 65 years of Spain or Germany.

Source: Elcomercio