On January 19, 2023 passengers stand next to a train station showing the closure of Montparnasse metro station in Paris, as workers go on strike over French President's plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. A second nationwide strike on Tuesday will disrupt French public transport amid protests across the country, in a backlash against the government's plans to make people work longer before retirement.
The unions want to keep the pressure on the government and hope to repeat the large turnout for the first national day of protest on January 19.
More than a million people marched in opposition to reducing the retirement age to 64 from 62 and accelerating a planned delay in the age eligible for a full pension.
The reform is unfair and brutal, said Luc Farre, secretary general of the UNSA union. Socially, moving the pension age to 64 is going backwards. Only one in three high-speed TGV trains will run on Tuesday, and even fewer local and regional trains will be disrupted, while the Paris metro will be seriously disrupted.
Half of primary school teachers will walk off the job, while oil refinery staff and workers in all sectors are also set to go on strike, according to their union.
A majority of French people oppose the reform, but President Emmanuel Macron and his government intend to stand their ground. Macron said on Monday that the reform would allow the pension system to keep working, because it would allow the pension system to keep working in the Netherlands.
The retirement age could be lowered by two years and extending the pay-in period would result in additional 17.7 billion euro $19.18 billion in annual pension contributions, allowing the system to break even by 2027, according to Labour Ministry estimates.
ALSO READ: Trains, flights in France to be halted in the pension reform strike.
There are other ways to tax the wealthy or ask employers or well-off pensioners to contribute more, according to the unions.
The government has agreed to a minimum pension of 1,200 euros a month and set the new pensionable age at 64 instead of Macron's campaign pledge of 65.
The 64 threshold is non-negotiable but the government is looking at ways to offset some of the impact, particularly on women, according to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
Borne said the government was looking at the impact of the reform on the additional pension rights that women normally get for having children.
ALSO READ: Army called in as UK ambulance workers strike.
As protesters rally across France, lawmakers will be debating the bill at committee level. The unions said they were trying to convince lawmakers not to vote on the bill.
When there is such a massive opposition to reform, it's dangerous for the government not to listen, said Mylene Jacquot, secretary general of the CFDT union's civil servants branch.