Pensions action paused

After 14 separate days of action, the last on 6 June, unions in France — who have acted together throughout the protests — have decided to halt mass mobilisations against changes to the pension system, at least until after the summer.

However, they will continue to contest the individual decrees required to implement various aspects of the process as they emerge.

Sophie Binet, general secretary of the more militant CGT confederation, wrote in a newspaper article last month that even though the pension change had been adopted, it was wrong to say that the unions had lost.

“The mobilisation has allowed trade unionism to be put back in the centre,” she commented.