Self-employed private sector workers from across France, including lawyers, airline pilots, doctors and other health professionals have protested in Paris against the government’s pension changes, reports The Guardian.
The demonstration on Monday by workers in the professions libérales will pile more pressure on ministers as MPs meet to examine the proposed legislation.
A cross-party parliamentary committee will begin to examine each of the draft law’s 65 articles in detail on Monday afternoon. The bill is aimed at merging the country’s 42 separate pension schemes into a points-based “universal” system. The committee will also be faced with 22,000 amendments to the law lodged last week, 19,000 of them submitted by the hard-left La France Insoumise party, in an attempt to delay the legislation.
Until now, the most vociferous opposition to the changes has come from unions and public sector workers, particularly rail staff, whose six-week strike brought parts of France to a standstill.
The ramping up of opposition by self-employed workers, who staged mass protests in September last year and in January, means the government is facing a two-pronged assault against the pension changes.
Most of those marching in Paris were lawyers, many of whom have been on strike for three weeks, forcing courts and tribunals to postpone hearings.
“The image people have of a lawyer is someone who is affluent and doesn’t have financial difficulties and that is false,” said Jean-Philippe Labes, head of the Pau bar. “This is a profession that is getting poorer.”
Paris lawyer François Suberbere said the pension reforms were an existential threat to the legal profession in France.
“Our pensions are threatened. We are being told we have to pay more charges for fewer pension rights. This means many smaller firms that are vital to the legal system will not survive.”