France national strike over pension reform: Why are workers so angry?

Published

2 years ago

March 23, 2023

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A national strike is taking place in France after President Emmanuel Macron’s circumvention of parliament to pass the divisive pension bill which would raise the retirement age by two years.

The co-ordinated strikes are expected to cause widespread national chaos, as well as travel disruption to and from France.

French airports will be hit, with Paris Orly airport seeing its schedule of flights reduced by 30% according to the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGAC).

Eurostar announced eight of its trains would be suspended as it runs a revised timetable.

French domestic travel will also take a hit. SNCF, France’s state-owned railway company, said to expect severe disruption with reduced TGV, TER and Intercite services.

Paris metro and other modes of public transport will be hit as transport workers take to the picket lines.

The industrial action could become violent, emulating the past few days of demonstrations all over France.

Why are people protesting and striking?

President Macron’s plan to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 is a deeply unpopular.

Opinion polls show the vast majority of voters oppose the pension reforms, as do trade unions, who argue that there are other ways to balance the pension system account.

So as a collective force, workers from the transport, sanitary, refinery, education sectors and beyond have been marching in their respective cities and towns against the bill.

French streets have become lined with overflowing bins, notably in Paris where almost 10,000 tonnes of rubbish remains uncollected.

How Macron did to push the retirement bill through?

The French president’s current PM, Elisabeth Borne, announced the proposed pension changes on 10 January.

Last week, Mr Macron forced the pension reform through the National Assembly without a vote using Article 49.3, a part of the French constitution that enables the government to pass a law without a vote by MPs.

What’s been the reaction and effect on the country so far?

After the bill was forced through on 16 March, people came out en masse to demonstrate.

Around 7,000 people participated in an unplanned rally on the Place de la Concorde in Paris – across the River Seine from the assembly.

Riot police fired tear gas and used a water cannon to disperse protesters, while officers who charged groups of demonstrators had stones thrown at them, according to a Reuters reporter. Firefighters were also called to extinguish blazes in Paris.

More than 300 activists were arrested.

A ‘spectacular failure’ but the president survives

The move was called “a spectacular failure” by Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of left-wing party France Insoumise (France Unbowed).

“This bill has no parliamentary legitimacy, no legitimacy from the street,” he said at a protest outside parliament.

However, on 21 March, the president narrowly survived two motions of no confidence by nine votes after they were tabled by centrist MPs and those from the far-right National Rally.

The centrist group’s vote was first in the National Assembly, with 278 MPs voting in favour – higher than expected but narrowly short of the 287 needed to get the motion through.

Why does Macron say he’s bringing the change?

Speaking publicly for the first time since the reforms were forced through parliament, President Macron said the retirement system needed a change to keep it financed.

Mr Macron said: “That reform is not a luxury, it is not fun, it’s a necessity for the country,”

Currently, France’s state retirement age is 62 – much lower than many of its European neighbours. In the UK it’s 66, Germany and Italy 67, and Spain 65.

Its generous welfare state has long weighed heavily on the economy and workforce, which is gradually shrinking.

There are only 1.7 workers for every pensioner in France, down from 2.1 in 2000.

David S Bell, emeritus professor of French government and politics at the University of Leeds, told Sky News: “[Mr Macron’s] argument is that unless these reforms are made, and the French working life is made longer, the country won’t be able to afford it.”

What’s next?

Mr Macron said the retirement age changes would “continue its democratic path” and would need to be implemented by the “end of the year”.

This can only be legalised once the Constitutional Council reviews the bill in the coming weeks.

Mr Macron said he “respects” the protests against the reforms, but “condemned” violence ensuing from them last week.

World

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

Published

8 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points - as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.

The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.

Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.

The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.

Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.

Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.

“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.

The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.

It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

At least 798 people have been killed at Gaza aid points, the UN says

Published

16 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.

The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.

The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.

In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Published

20 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.

Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.

The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.

“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.

“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”

Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.

Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.

Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.

“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.

The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.

It said three children and their mother were among the dead.

Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.

On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.

Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.

A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.

People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.

Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.

A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.

Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.