Nothing is decided yet. After the adoption of the pension reform bill by the deputies, it is now the senators’ turn to make their decisions. From October 5 to 15, they will examine the government’s reform proposals. However, the unions are already worried about the vote on the bill. Following the protest on September 23, they are again calling on the French to mobilize on October 2, 2010. In Nice, the gathering is scheduled for 10 a.m. in front of the Thiers station. “The protest will start from the station, go down Jean Mรฉdecin Avenue towards Garibaldi Square,” says Didier Turrini, the departmental secretary of the CGT. For now, no disruptions are expected in transportation on Saturday. “There will certainly be a moment of pause and a special organization to allow the protest to pass through Jean Mรฉdecin Avenue.”
Make the government bend
The unions have only one goal in mind: to force the government to reverse its decision. Didier Turrini criticizes the fact that “today, the political class is not able to meet the needs of the employees, and the reform is still particularly unfair. We are now able to formulate other political and strategic choices for pension funding, and when we talk about changing taxation, reducing tax loopholes, the French are now aware of these issues due to the Woerth/Bettencourt cases, for example. Everyone understands well that we have a government in the service of Medef and big fortunes and that it is not aiming to be social but rather to erode all the rights acquired since the National Council of Resistance and the Popular Front in ’36.” This reform can be modified: “we think there are possibilities to amend the text, especially to fundamentally change its substance. It is not about two small adjustments as we were offered regarding hardship. We want a fair reform that allows for a pension at 60 years old. It’s possible, it’s feasible. However, political courage is required to find other sources of funding, notably involving capital income and all forms of speculation existing in today’s economic landscape.”
The unions have already set the next mobilization date for October 12: “to have the time to create conditions for general assembly, exchange, and expression.”
