FRENCH TRADE unions increased pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy over pension reform yesterday when nationwide protests drew the largest crowds to date and a wave of strikes caused widespread disruption.
The CGT union hailed the day as an “exceptional” success and said 3.5 million people took part in protests against the plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The police estimate was considerably lower, at 1.2 million, but both sides agreed that the turnout – strengthened by the involvement of secondary school pupils – was the highest since the unions’ campaign against the reform began.
The protests took place at a decisive moment for Mr Sarkozy, with his flagship pensions Bill being debated in the senate and the unions threatening rolling strikes unless the proposals are abandoned. Speaking in parliament, however, prime minister François Fillon insisted the government was determined to proceed, saying “we have reached the limit of the that are possible”. Rail services, flights and sea ports ran below capacity as workers in many public companies went on strike, with walkouts among air traffic controllers reducing flights from Paris’s main airports by as much as 50 per cent. The Paris metro ran limited services and the Eiffel Tower was closed in the afternoon for lack of staff.
Ryanair said it had been forced to cancel 250 flights in all – 12 in and out of Irish airports – while Aer Lingus said it had cancelled two flights between Dublin and Charles de Gaulle. Air France said at least two flights from Paris to Dublin were cancelled.
At the Paris march, which moved in fine sunshine between Montparnasse and Place de la Bastille, protesters insisted that despite the senate having in recent days approved some of the central elements of the Bill, it was still possible for the unions to prevail.
“I came out here to prevent the Bill going through the senate,” said Pierre Couloumy (40), a civil servant. “I’m a communist, and I don’t think it’s too late to save the principle of retirement at 60. We’re not anti-democratic – on the contrary. We respect the parliament, but we believe they can abandon a law even after it has been passed.”
Ministers insist that without major changes, the pensions system would run up annual deficits of €50 billion by 2020. But Michelle Moy, who works for a local authority in the Seine-et-Marne département outside Paris, said the government’s plan was driven by ideological rather than economic impulses.
“I think the plan is totally unfair,” she said, while holding aloft a red CGT flag. “I’ll still be working until I’m 65 . . . I’ll be working until I’m 70. It’s a political choice, but we could make other budgetary decisions . . . It’s about what sort of society we want. I worry about the society we’re creating for our children. But the fact that I’m here tells you I’m certain it’s not too late.”
One of the most prominent posters along the route was one carrying the logo of the trotskyite Lutte Ouvrière, which read, “What the parliament does, the street can undo.”
The key element of the Bill had passed by 186 votes to 156, Ms Moy said. “It’s a problem with democracy – once we vote for deputies and politicians, we no longer have any say. There’s only one opportunity to be heard and it’s here on the street. We have to take it.”
HOW MANY ARE MARCHING? IT DEPENDS ON WHO'S COUNTING
For the fourth time in a month, a day of action by French trade unions ended with nobody sure quite how many people took part.
In keeping with what has by now become a ritual, organisers and the interior ministry last night issued national turnout estimates that differed radically: 3.5 million said one side, 1.2 million said the other.
With the government and the unions monitoring numbers closely for signs that opposition to Sarkozy’s pension reform may be hardening or ebbing, turnout has become a vital battleground.
Both sides employ similar counting methods, placing several representatives at two points or more along the march route, estimating how many people can stand in a straight line on the road and then multiplying it as the crowd passes. The police don’t include anyone standing on the footpath; the unions do.
Many believe the true figure lies somewhere between the two estimates. In 2006, during protests against an unpopular new work contract, the daily Le Parisien used photographers placed above the crowd to estimate turnout itself. The result? A figure 40 per cent lower than that of the unions and 20 per cent higher than that provided by the police.
The situation is further complicated by remarkable regional differences in protester-counting. In Brittany, police and union estimates broadly tally with one another, but in Marseille the gap is generally huge. On September 7th, the CGT union put the turnout in the city at 200,000, whereas the police estimated that just 27,000 took part.