The placard held by this teacher reads: “After 40 years of teaching I will retire at 69 with 1,500 euros. That’s No!” (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT–Some 150 persons, comprising mostly teachers from primary and secondary schools, with Collectivité employees, civil servants and others from the public and private sectors, took part in a march Thursday morning to show solidarity with the national protest over French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed pension reform.
The relatively small number of people marching did not reflect the true picture elsewhere of public sector employees not turning up for work and staying home. The strike rate was reported at 60 to 70 per cent.
At the Lycée and Collège Soualiga in Cité Scolaire only 15 per cent of students and teachers turned up for school, indicating a strike rate of 80 to 85 per cent.
In contrast to violent scenes in Paris and other cities adding to the transportation strike, the march in St. Martin, escorted by Gendarmes and Territorial Police, was peaceful. The slow pace of the march, however, from the waterfront to the Préfecture, and the frequent stops, meant traffic was held up for a while in the centre of Marigot.
The march got under way around 9:00am after a gathering at the kiosk on the waterfront. The main unions present were Union Nationale Syndicats Autonome (UNSA), Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU), the main education union and Syndicat National de l’Enseignement Secondaire (SNES), the union for secondary schools.
“We fear if this pension reform is implemented in the way it is being presented, we will lose up to a third of our pension,” FSU union representative Laurent Baly said. “But we have other issues to address: Baccalaureate reform, reconstruction after the hurricanes, lack of classrooms and [their being – Ed.] not well-equipped. At the high school in La Savane we were expecting new buildings, new facilities, but with the Collectivité there is always delays.”
A union delegation met with Secretary-General and Sous-Préfet Michaël Dore in the absence of Préfète Déléguée Sylvie Feucher to express disapproval of the national pension reform. Also brought up in the meeting was the civil servants working programme, where there is an impact on remuneration and on the minimum wage which will drop a few points. Dore indicated the grievances will be passed on to the relevant minister in Paris.
UNSA representative Patrice Thomas said there would not be any further demonstrations in St. Martin, but protests will continue in France and Guadeloupe.
Macron’s pension reform was already outlined in his election manifesto. The French government insists it cannot continue to subsidise the state pension, the cost of which is way higher than that of the UK, the USA and the Netherlands, the latter being widely regarded as having the best pension system.
Macron wants to introduce a points system which will affect retirement age and amount of pension. He wants to do away with the present 42 pension schemes and have one equal pension for all. The problem with that is that some public sectors, such as railway workers, have been accustomed to “privileged pensions” and will not willingly accept a lower pension.
Demonstrators march along Rue de La République on the way to the Préfecture during Thursday’s protest against the national pension reform. (Robert Luckock photo)
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/93046-demonstrators-show-solidarity-over-pension-reform-protest
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