Striking Paris transport workers to lead charge against French pension reform

The Ile-de-France region surrounding Paris will be worst hit by nationwide strikes against pension reform on Thursday as Parisian transport workers – who face losing their special retirement privileges – prepare to take up the call by unions for a “zero transport day”.

Paris-region commuters in a metro station during a strike against government plans to reform the pension system, 6 January 2020. Reuters/Charles Platiau

RATP metro operators in Paris say three lines will be completely closed (8, 10, 11), while 10 others will only function during rush hours or be "partially operated". Only the driverless lines 1 and 14 will circulate normally.

The vast majority of RER commuter trains will be cancelled, as will one in five flights to and from Paris’s Orly airport.

Rail operator SNCF said as few as one in three five high-speed TGV lines would be running, and only one in 10 local TER trains.

Public transport will also be disrupted in other cities – especially in Lyon, Rouen and Nice, where all streetcar lines and many bus routes will come to a standstill.

Cross-sector mobilisation

Across the country seven out of 10 primary school teachers will striking, while workers from oil refineries to banks have also said they will down tools.

Disruption to high schools will be known later because secondary teachers are not required to declare their strike intentions 48 hours in advance, however high school “blockades” are expected. 

• French unions rally workers for widespread strikes against pensions reform

French unions have united for the first time in 12 years in their “total opposition” to government plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, while France’s entire political left has thrown its support behind the “black Thursday” strike.

The hardline CGT union said more than 200 rally points had been listed throughout France, with unions hoping anger over the pensions plan will bring a million people onto the street in protest.

Strong police presence

More than 10,000 police and gendarmes will be mobilised for the demonstrations said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who will himself be out of the country on Thursday.

Darmanin will be joining President Emmanuel Macron and eight other government ministers in Spain for a bilateral summit organised before the unions called their protest.

• Further petrol shortages loom as French oil workers' union calls strike

As the French get ready to fight, Macron has insisted on the legitimacy of his mandate to overhaul retirement rules seven months after being re-elected for a second term.

Citing a presidential advisor who said the president trusted the “common sense” of the French, BFMTV on Wednesday reported that Macron “did not fear a day of fire and blood” and was instead confident that people understood the reform was in the best interest of the country, especially for young people.