Watch: French rail workers hold strike day as pension dispute continues
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Railway workers in France staged a strike on Thursday, 20 April, in a continuing dispute over Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms.
The French president signed the deeply-unpopular bill raising the state pension age from 62 to 64 into law on Saturday, despite vocal opposition from unions who have called for mass protests - which started in January - to carry on.
France’s Constitutional Council has ruled in favour of the provisions and determined that the bill, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote, was in accordance with French law.
The law is due to take effect from 1 September 2023.
Mr Macron has said that the pension changes are needed to avoid billions of euros of defecit every year by the end of the decade, but unions say this funding could be found elsewhere, such as taxing the rich more heavily.
Unions have called for further strike action on 21 and 28 April, and 1 May.
Click here to sign up for our newsletters.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments