You do not piss off the French citizenry......

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) France is facing a third day of strikes and mass street demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the pension age to 64, after the government faced shouting and booing in parliament as lawmakers began debating the bill.

Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to take part in more than 200 street demonstrations across France on Tuesday, from cities to small towns. Trains and urban transport will be severely disrupted, and one in five flights at Paris’s Orly airport will be cancelled. Some schools will close as teachers strike. Students are also blocking several university buildings across France.

Polls continue to show that a majority of French people disapprove of Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64 and to increase the number of years people must make contributions for a full pension. The current retirement age of 62 is the lowest of any major European economy.

Macron’s ruling centrist grouping faced furious scenes of shouting and desk-banging in parliament on Monday night at the start of the debate on the plans. .............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/07/third-day-strikes-protests-france-macron-pension-plans

[brooklynite]

3. Different economic/cultural world

Labor unions work differently and strike differently here.

[Lancero]

5. Assuming it's even legal for them to strike.

We've made it illegal for certain professions to strike. And not just historically.

[Oneironaut]

8. This is the answer.

People don’t strike or protest here because their jobs would be at stake. We need unions.

[brooklynite]

2. Flying to Paris next month.....

Life is becoming complicated.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. In France, the government fears the people. Here, the opposite.

[Whiskeytide]

6. A history that includes guillotines will do that. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

11. Best bread on earth and still half of what you pay for the crappy stuff here

The consequences of starving them have and will be eternally retained by the powers that be.

https://www.history.com/news/bread-french-revolution-marie-antoinette

[area51]

12. +1 n/t

[Oneironaut]

7. It's funny because the French are incorrectly smeared as cowardly.

This has never been true - even in WWII. There were active French resistance cells fighting the Nazis throughout the war. Also, France’s military is excellent and definitely does not live up to the “surrendering” trope assigned to them.

[delisen]

9. France24 provides good coverage of the French protest also

There does not seem to be a pension crisis. Rather this may be an issue very much like that in the US where social security is frequently under attack by financial interests and super-rich.

[Bayard]

10. I get it

Imagine that you are 61+ years old, thinking you get to retire in a few months. Then being told you have to work 2 more years.