The French government vowed on Thursday to push through pension reform by the end of the winter despite opposition from unions which launched a first major day of strikes the same day, reports FRANCE 24.
A call for nationwide stoppages by the CGT union on Thursday, the first since President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected in April, caused some disruption, but was not widely followed.
Several unions, including the country's biggest, did not take part, although all of them and left-wing political parties are gearing up for a months-long fight over efforts to raise the pension age.
"It's the start of a social battle," leading left-wing MP Alexis Corbière from the France Unbowed (LFI) party told AFP as he took part in a protest march of tens of thousands in Paris. "My hope is that this is the starting point."
Macron made raising the retirement age from its current level of 62 one of the key planks of his re-election campaign, arguing that the current system was unsustainable and too expensive.
"All the unions in France are against working up to 64 or 65 years. Because it's stupid," the head of the CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told public TV Channel France 2 on Thursday.
Left-wing political parties have called their own separate rallies on October 16th to demand pay rises and an end to the planned pension changes.
Though Macron is known to be in a hurry to push through legislation, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced Thursday that the government would spend another few months in consultations with unions and other political parties.
"There are important questions we want to open talks about," she told AFP after talks at the presidential palace on Wednesday evening.
A bill would be voted on "before the end of the winter", she promised.
With deficits spiralling and public debt at historic highs, Macron views pushing back the pension age as one of the only ways the state can raise revenues without increasing taxes.
But his centrist party lost its majority in parliament in June, severely undermining his ability to make changes that are broadly unpopular.
Labour minister Olivier Dussopt said that the 44-year-old head of state would not hesitate to call fresh elections if opposition parties voted down the government over the reform.