France will be hit Thursday by fresh strike action and protests against Emmanuel Macron’s flagship pensions reform while the French leader is on a three-day visit to China, reports Politico.
A meeting between trade union representatives and prime minister Élisabeth Borne on Wednesday failed to avert further protests against the government’s plans to raise the retirement age from to 64 from 62 and increase the number of years of contributions required to receive a full pension.
Union chiefs walked out of the meeting with Borne in less than an hour, saying the government was not ready to make concessions, and called for protests to continue.
Sophie Binet, the freshly appointed head of CGT trade union, told reporters that unions decided to leave the meeting as they considered it “useless.”
Speaking right after the meeting, Borne said that she insisted with unions on the “need” for a pensions reform and noted that “our disagreement on the raising of [retirement age] prevented us from discussing in-depth” other topics such as labor conditions. “I am not planning to move forward without [unions]” she promised.