Emmanuel Macron’s government in France has abused the emergency provisions in the constitution to pass and defend its anti-worker pension reforms. It has also used the security forces to crack down on workers protesting against the rise in retirement age

The French working class is protesting attempts by the government of President Emmanuel Macron to invoke constitutional provisions to block a bill mooted by opposition groups to repeal the pension reforms

The French government had a narrow escape on Monday as the no-confidence motion filed by the opposition fell short of just nine votes in the National Assembly. Trade unions and leftist parties are gearing up for more protests against the unpopular pension reforms

Left-wing opposition parties and trade unions have slammed the reform as anti-worker and illegitimate and called to continue protests

The controversial pension reform bill calling for an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 is currently being discussed in the French Senate but was passed over to the Senate before it could be voted on because of disagreements about raising the retirement age

On February 17, France’s controversial pension reform bill will likely undergo crucial debates and voting in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament

To understand more about the movement against pension reform in France, we spoke to Ramon Vila, the secretary of the trade union SUD Santé-Sociaux.

Around 2 million people took part in mobilizations held in over 250 locations across France on February 7 even as the parliament was debating the deeply unpopular pension reform

The Macron-led government is making a new bid to push controversial pension reforms, calling to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64

The ongoing cost of living crisis and fuel shortages as well as the failure of governments to handle the crisis has triggered protests by working class and poor sections across Europe

Workers in fuel depots and refineries of oil giants like Total Energy and Esso-ExxonMobil are holding strikes demanding an increase in wages to combat the soaring inflation