Tens of thousands of pensioners took to the streets on Thursday, 6 March in Paris and towns up and down France.
Called out by the Force Ouvrière Pensioners Confederal Union and other pensioners’ confederations, they were protesting about the steep decline in what their pensions will buy in recent years, and demanding an immediate, significant rise in pensions.
500 people in Nîmes, 700 in Toulouse, 750 in Nantes, 300 in Saint Nazaire, 800 in Caen, 500 in Rennes, 1 000 in Toulouse, 1 500 in Lyon, 250 in Troyes, 500 in Toulon, 6 000 in Paris plus more in other towns, marched with big contingents under the Force Ouvrière banner.
The size of the turnout showed pensioners’ anger and resolve. They were protesting against the government order capping the rise in PAYG and civil service retirement pensions to 1.10% on 1 January 2008 on the excuse of a so-called “overpayment” in 2007. The pensions review conference held on 20 December had failed to reach agreement on an uprating. All decisions on the matter were put off pending the outcome of the future talks on pensions reform, despite the Labour, Industrial Relations and Solidarity Minister’s acceptance that a 1.1% increase was not enough.
“The second half of the year is too long to wait for the next increase”, argued the union’s General Secretary, marching in the Paris demo, and demanded at least “1.6% more” for pensions.
The 1.1% increase for 2008 is well below inflation forecasts, and is not only unfair to 13 million pensioners, but also seen as “an insult”, given the steadily rising cost of living which threatens to push yet more pensioners into poverty.
We have received many letters, phone calls and emails from rank-and-file members of the different FO pensioners’ unions telling us about their problems and the resentment they feel.
The UCR-FO heralds this pensioners’ protest as a success we can be proud of. It reflects the commitment of our pensioners’ unions and their ability to get organized at very short notice, and to get backing from many colleagues.
At the end of the Paris demo, an inter-UCR delegation was received in the Prime Minister’s official residence to brief his Social Affairs Adviser on pensioners’ demands and especially the immediate increase in pensions. Benoît Jayez, UCR Deputy General Secretary representing UCR-FO, told him that FO pensioners demanded an immediate rise in occupational and state pensions without waiting for the outcomes of the planned pension negotiations. The PM’s Social Affairs Adviser noted the UCR’s positions and promised to convey them to the Prime Minister.
Force Ouvrière’s pensioner colleagues are well aware that pensions are an issue where it is essential that everyone - employed, unemployed and retired workers in the private and public sectors alike - gets militant and takes action, and they will answer the Confederation’s calls to action.
“La lettre de l’Union Confédérale des Retraités” UCR-FO (UCR-FO Pensioners Confederal Union newsletter)
Quarterly No. 65 - April 2008
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