PARIS, Dec. 9 -- While train and metro services remained heavily disrupted by a strike against pension reform on Monday for the fifth day in a row, the French government is stepping up efforts to justify pension reform, offering further talks with labor unions to dampen social anger.
The government's High Commissioner for Pensions Jean-Paul Delevoye and Minister for Solidarities and Health Agnes Buzyn convened on Monday afternoon the unions to discuss conclusions of month-long consultations on ways to overhaul the country's pension regime.
"I am convinced that the status quo is no longer bearable, that this project is necessary and that future generations will be grateful to us," Delevoye said after the meeting.
"The priorities that emerge (from talks) are demand for equity and solidarity," he added, noting that consultations would continue next year as some differences remained.
Taking into account unions' proposals, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will unveil on Wednesday full modalities of pension reform that he pledged to introduce "progressively, without harshness."
"I am convinced that with the trade unions we will find the right balance point that will reassure the workforce on their future without giving up our firm willingness to project the country into the future and set up the universal system," Philippe said on Friday.
President Emmanuel Macron will meet main figures of the ruling party -- the Republic On the Move -- and government officials on Tuesday evening as unions called for a second round of mass protests against pension reform.
The reform consisted in merging the variety of 42 different pension set-ups for different professions into a universal regime.
The proposed single system would use points so that each euro paid in would give the same retirement benefits no matter what sector pensioners worked in.
That meant to scrap the special transport worker status, which allows workers to retire on full pension at 52, a decade before other French employees.
Locking horns with unions over pension system had put previous French governments on the hot seat.
In 1995, unions of workers from the state-owned national railway company SNCF staged three weeks of strikes that paralyzed the country and forced then Prime Minister Alain Juppe to drop a retirement reform plan and a program of welfare cutbacks and resign.
"They have to pull the reform," Philippe Martinez, head of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), told France Info radio.
The leader of France's largest union in the public sector warned that "things are changing fast and the anger is huge ...The government should be attentive," he said.
Critics say the reform would effectively force people to work longer, in particular public sector workers who have been allowed to often retire earlier due to hard working conditions. The government argued that it is needed to bring the costly pension system into balance.
On Monday, train traffic and metro networks were heavily disrupted for the fifth successive day. SNCF said up to 15 percent of the trains were operational, spelling traffic chaos for millions of commuters.
For now the protest movement shows no sign of abating. Unions voted to extend the strike until Tuesday. Another countrywide rally is planned for Dec. 10 after at least 806,000 took to the streets across French cities last Thursday.
国内英语资讯:Xi and his unremitting call for global health cooperation
美文赏析:我是如此热爱生活
每日一词∣解除离汉通道管控 lift outbound travel restrictions in Wuhan
曼德拉追悼会上曼德拉家人及各国领导人语录
国际英语资讯: U.S. Navy chief who fired captain of coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier resigns: report
法国通过法案 嫖客初犯罚1500欧元
从意美德法等26国归国的中国籍旅客需提前填报防疫健康信息
英税务署打击支付最低薪资以下水平的雇主
担心战时影响发射速度 美国核弹发射密码曾为8个0
五个英语句子说:“这不合我的口味!”
体坛英语资讯:Unseeded Mager eliminates Thiem at Rio Open
国际英语资讯:Feature: Chinese martial arts help Cubans deal with COVID-19 lockdown
Too & very 的区别
曼德拉之女讲述父亲临终前的最后时刻
The Meaning of Exams 考试的意义
国际英语资讯:Italy counts 135,586 COVID-19 cases, daily recoveries exceed new infections
第一个感恩节时,人们吃的什么?
国内英语资讯:China to set up new integrated pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce to stabilize foreign
国际英语资讯:COVID-19 deaths in Europe continue to rise as Frances top 10,000
国际英语资讯:New York state reports deadliest day yet of COVID-19 outbreak: governor
德国警官涉嫌杀人食人被捕
英国首相新冠肺炎病情恶化转入ICU
国际英语资讯:British PM spending second night in intensive care: spokesman
印度官员创立婚恋网站 助艾滋病感染者成婚者
体坛英语资讯:Preview: Vital week ahead to condition Real Madrid and Barca on Saturday
曼德拉昔日看守忆两人忘年之交
国内英语资讯:China opposes all forms of discrimination, prejudice: spokesperson
国内英语资讯:China demands unremitting containment efforts as Wuhan lockdown lifted
国际英语资讯:COVID-19 deaths top 80,000 worldwide: Johns Hopkins University
为什么大多数中国人对自己的工作无爱
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |