Garbage collectors, utility workers and train drivers are among people walking off the job on Tuesday across France to show their anger at a bill raising the retirement age to 64, which unions see as a broader threat to the French social model.
More than 250 protests are expected in Paris and around the country in what organizers hope is their biggest show of force yet against President Emmanuel Macron's showcase legislation, after nearly two months of demonstrations. The bill is under debate in the French Senate this week.
All oil shipments in the country have been halted on Tuesday amid strikes at the refineries of TotalEnergies, Esso-ExxonMobil and Petroineos groups, according to the CGT. "The job of a garbage collector is painful. We usually work very early or late ... 365 days per year. We usually have to carry heavy weight or stand up for hours to sweep," said Regis Viecili, a 56-year-old garbage worker.
A fifth of flights were canceled at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport and about a third of flights were scrapped at Orly Airport. Trains to Germany and Spain were expected to come to a halt, and those to and from Britain and Belgium will be reduced by a third, according to the SNCF rail authority.More than 60% of teachers in primary schools were expected to be on strike, as well as public sector workers elsewhere.
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