they have retired and they are showing against the reform
With so many people on the Place d’Italie, it was difficult for Joëlle, 73, to make her way. ” Continue he shouted to the people in front of him, let’s move on, let’s move on! Throughout her career, Joëlle had several jobs: factory worker, employee in the IT sector, employee of an associative structure… Loyal to the CGT and the Communist Party, she always responded to the manifesto when needed. fight for the pension “. ” Since Mitterrand, employers have always been there to kill us “, Joëlle is angry. Before ending: “ Me, I am fighting for the pensions of my children and grandchildren! A young woman in her thirties turned to him: Thanks a lot, nice to do this for them… »
“If we move now, maybe today’s young people will still have retirement in 20 or 30 years”
Retired, therefore less concerned with reform, the oldest? However, in the Paris procession, many of them came to support the employees in front of the project presented by the government. Parade alone, as a couple, with friends or with former union partners: all evoke the need to show solidarity with future generations. ” I tell myself that if we, the old people, act now, maybe today’s young people will still have retirement in 20 or 30 years. explained Patrick, 76 years old. This former bank employee said he was tired of repeated protests against successive pension reforms in recent decades. But he does not give up the fight. ” I always tell my friends: even if I have a cane and an armchair, I will go and defend pensions! laughed the mustache, mimicking the nasal voice of an old man.
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Behind some union floats, we can see the same slogan chanted by the demonstrators. ” The pensions are ours! We fought to win them, we fight to keep them! The formula was immediately picked up by the students, but also by some demonstrators, who had more gray hair. Above all, some of the retirees in the procession want to avoid the loss of the social benefits that were obtained before. ” This reform is another step in the systematic destruction of all post-war social gains. laments Mireille, a former union teacher at Force Ouvrière. It’s unbearable… »
“From Germinal to fighting for paid vacation! »
At 72, he knows what it’s like to be happy in retirement when you’ve worked all your life. “She also believes that it is her duty to show that she will allow her children and grandchildren to benefit from a retirement at the age of 62. Christine, 64, a former social worker, feels the same way. If the reforms brought by Elisabeth are in place Borne, I wish he had just retired. Now, he’s walking to promote” unity between young and old. ” This has always worked in history, from Germinal to fighting for paid vacation! Christine exclaimed. The retiree further stated that he would be willing to get a slightly lower pension in the future, provided that ” this money really helps someone “. But that means question the entire capitalist perspective of our society, symbolized according to him by the figure of the French billionaire Bernard Arnault.
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The feeling of an injustice organized by the State often appeared in the exchange of pensioners who came to demonstrate. At the top of the Boulevard de Port-Royal, Pierre, 83, arrived accompanied by his son for the demonstration. ” It is for him that I am here today “, he assigned, pointing at him. He was especially angry at the flagship project of the second five-year term of the president. ” The whole text is a scandal “, replied the old man, who was used to union processions. ” With Macron, nothing is good “, Guy joked on his side. At the age of 65, the former auto mechanic worker is afraid of a text that reads “pto earn for pension funds “. For him, whether you are retired or not, it is important to take action against the reform” if we don’t want to have grandfathers in France carrying suitcases to hotels, like in England. »
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Instead of carrying a suitcase, grandparents prefer “ have time to take care of their grandchildren, volunteer… », lists Dominique, a former tour guide. ” What the government doesn’t see is us, the time, we know how to seize it! » If the law is adopted, the new legal retirement age limit, now set at 64, and the increase in the number of annuities required to obtain a full-time pension, will necessarily reduce the time available for to the next retirees. According to an Elabe / BFMTV poll conducted last week, 58% of over 65s are against pension reform.