To an American viewer, the current protests over raising France’s retirement age might look a little quaint: the country that once beheaded members of its aristocracy still gets in a tizzy when its president wears an expensive watch. In January, When President Emmanuel Macron revealed his plan to raise France’s minimum retirement age from a relatively young 62 to 64, protests erupted across the nation. Garbage collectors in Paris and other cities have gone on strike, leaving trash to pile up in the streets for more than two weeks.
But this is not a case of petulant Frenchmen failing to see how good they’ve got it. It’s a worker protest against an overbearing president, a demonstration of the power of organized labor, and a warning for the United States, whose retirement system faces similar challenges...
It’s unclear how the protests, and Macron’s policy, will turn out. But French people’s refusal to allow an undemocratic attack on their social safety net should be an inspiration for the US, whose people are bound by the will of an unelected Supreme Court, six of its justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote. Raising the retirement age in France isn’t trivial, and French unions are proving it. - Mother Jones
Monday, March 27, 2023
An example from France regarding retirement
The potential parallels aren't precise, but they're plenty close enough.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment