Rentrée strike day is Sept 7

THE leading unions are calling for a day of strikes and protests on Tuesday September 7 in opposition to planned pension reforms.

They hope to top the turnout on June 24, when they say 800,000 to two million may have taken part.

It is typical that, as schools and businesses start up again at the September rentrée, strikes are planned for maximum impact.

The protests will coincide with the start of parliamentary debate on plans to reduce the €32 billion pension deficit.

These include phasing in a retirement age of 62 by 2018 (from 60 today) and increasing contribution years for a full pension from 40.5 to 41.5. Sectors with "special" lower retirement ages, such as rail workers and the police, are expected to have them raised proportionally.

There are also plans to whittle down civil servants’ perks, such as a lower percentage of salary paid into pensions.

The striking unions cover both public and private sectors. The head of leading public sector and teaching union FSU, Bernadette Groison, said the plans were "unjust" and would lead to shorter life expectancies. She added aligning civil servants’ contributions with private sector ones (which the union believes equates to a salary cut) is "an indefensible step back".

"We are calling for a big day of strikes and protests among the whole of the workers of the public and private sectors, jobseekers, young people and retirees," she said.

The union Unsa notes that the government’s original plans outlined in June remain unchanged in key details after examination by a parliamentary commission.

"More than ever, mobilisation on September 7 is needed, and must be massive for a different kind of pension reform," they say.

Paris transport unions FO RATP and Sud RATP have said their strikes will have no set end and may well be much longer than a single day.

Also coinciding with the rentrée, the biggest union, CGT, is calling on people to organise protests on Saturday September 4, against what it calls Nicolas Sarkozy’s government’s "xenophobia and pillory politics".

They said recent statements about gypsy camps or prison for parents of delinquent youths amounted to an "avalanche of provocative speeches and announcements" of a kind that used to be confined to the far right."