'If you want to be heard that's the way it is', Paris commuters say as strikes drag on
Record ID:
1449045
'If you want to be heard that's the way it is', Paris commuters say as strikes drag on
- Title: 'If you want to be heard that's the way it is', Paris commuters say as strikes drag on
- Date: 18th December 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 18, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COMMUTERS IN METRO STATION COMMUTERS GETTING OFF METRO SCREEN SHOWING SUSPENDED METRO LINES DU TO STRIKES (SOUNDBITE) (French) COMMUTER AND COACH, NATHALIE RENARD, SAYING: "On the positive side I stand now when I commute whereas usually I sit, so now I see the world differently. I walk more so that's better, I enjoy the pavements and the people in the street, which is more pleasant than just the cars." VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF METRO
- Embargoed: 1st January 2020 10:32
- Keywords: Pension reform SNCF strikes trains transport
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003BAI6M9Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Commuters in Paris on Wednesday (December 18) said they understood the reasons for the pension strikes as they entered a 14th day with trains and metros still crippled after a day of nationwide protests.
French trade unions failed to achieve the big surge in support they had hoped for in street protests to pressure President Emmanuel Macron to ditch his pension reform, and said there would be no strike truce during Christmas.
About 615,000 people nationwide answered the union leaders' call to march on Tuesday, the interior ministry said, a significant decline since the first big day of action on Dec. 5 which had brought 806,000 onto the street, though numbers were higher in Paris.
French unions oppose Macron's plans to streamline the Byzantine state pension system and prod people to work until 64, instead of the legal retirement age of 62.
Commuters at Gare du Nord train station like Sidi who lives outside of Paris said he supported the employees on strikes.
"They're right (the strikers), they're right to strike. If you what to be heard that's the way it is. There is no other solution but to strike," he said.
Leader of France's hard-line CGT union Philippe Martinez said in a televised interview on BFM TV that he would be attending a meeting with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday afternoon, where ministers are due to sit down with trade unions and other labour representatives.
The unions and Macron are each hoping to push the other to back down before Christmas, with the prospect that strikes over the holiday would alienate an increasingly frustrated public.
(Production: Lucien Libert, Thierry Chiarello and Pascale Antonie) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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