France Trade Unions Plan Protests Against Pension Reform Law for June 6

Trade unions in France this week announced that they scheduled another day of planned protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform legislation. The planned demonstrations are set to take place on June 6 to express widespread opposition to the decision to raise the retirement age by two years.

French trade unions said in a joint statement that making June 6 a day of taking coordinated industrial action aims to “allow all workers to make themselves heard by the MPs.” The unions stressed that they all remained united to oppose Macron’s pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. The strike action would take place two days before French lawmakers are set to discuss a bill drafted by the opposition Liot Party to cancel the retirement reform on June 8.

Macron signed the bill into law last month following weeks of widespread protests across the country. The signing of the bill into law follows the ruling by the French Constitutional Court, saying that the legislation was lawful. This appeared to further reinforce the impression the people have of Macron as being indifferent to their daily hardships.

The French government has wanted to move on to other issues and has said it plans to invite unions for talks by the end of the week. The unions said they plan on using the upcoming talks to reaffirm their opposition to the pension reform and would work on joint proposals to improve working conditions. Opinion polls have shown a majority of French people have opposed the retirement reform.

Almost 300 protesters were arrested during the May Day demonstrations, while dozens of police officers were wounded when riots broke out in the midst of the demonstrations. At least 108 police officers were wounded, 25 of which were in the capital Paris, with 291 people getting detained, according to French interior minister Gerald Darmanin.

Darmanin said that the high number of police getting wounded during the riots in the midst of the demonstrations was “extremely rare” for a May Day protest day. Darmanin cited one policeman who was hit by a Molotov cocktail and suffered burns to the face and hands, but his life was not in danger.