Macron's “brutal” pension reform triggers strikes

The French government has presented a plan to gradually raise the country’s minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.

This reform has sparked anger among labour unions who immediately called for protests, Bloomberg reports.

The country’s President Emmanuel Macron explained this with a need to boost relatively low employment rates among seniors and avoid persistent deficits in a public system funded by worker contributions.

Labour organizations say it will unfairly penalise the low-skilled and least wealthy who began working early in life.

The issue was also commented on by Laurent Berger, the head of the moderate union French Democratic Confederation of Labour, who said that “the pension system is not in danger, nothing justifies such a brutal reform”.

The labour unions called for a first day of strikes and demonstrations on January 19 and said this was the beginning of a “strong mobilisation”.