According to the city authorities, 6,600 tonnes of rubbish are now lying uncollected on the pavements in the French capital. It’s definitely starting to smell. And the estimated 6 million rats and their mouse colleagues in the world’s most visited city do not have to go to bed hungry. – They search the rubbish heaps. They reproduce there and leave behind urine and shit. We are concerned about the risk of infection, says toxicologist Romain Lasseur to the newspaper Le Parisien about the situation in the capital. Garbage workers strike The reason for the mountains of rubbish is that French waste workers are on strike, and have been doing so for over a week. And will continue with the strike at least until Monday. They have joined the large pension protests that have characterized France in recent weeks. The garbage strike affects several cities, but the problems are currently most visible in the capital. Around half of Paris is affected by the garbage chaos. Among other things, the Latin Quarter in the 5th and 6th arrondissements, with its many bookstores, restaurants, churches, museums and the large Sorbonne University. And the 16th arrondissement with the well-known Arc de Triomphe (the landmark is on the border between the 16th and 17th arrondissements) and the Place du Trocadéro, the famous square with a view of the Eiffel Tower. And where some of Paris’ most expensive homes are found. Rubbish has also piled up in the area around the Arc de Triomphe. Photo: Thomas Padilla / AP The public waste company Syctom has had to stop operations at three waste incineration plants. The management informs the AFP news agency that they are trying to get garbage trucks sent to other of their facilities or storage areas, but that the capacity is limited. Therefore, the garbage bags are left behind. Waste management in Paris is divided between different companies. Employees in private companies are not on strike, so some parts of the city are affected by the garbage chaos, others are not. Striking employees block the entrance to a waste incinerator in Ivry-sur-Seine, south of Paris. Photo: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP French strike spring A week ago, all French trains stopped because railway employees stopped work. So did airport employees and port workers in addition to teachers and other public employees. Around 1.2 million took to the streets to show their displeasure with the proposal to raise the retirement age in France. Today there will be a new nationwide marking. Refinery workers at the French oil company Total are on strike for the eighth day. Workers in other oil companies, such as ExxonMobil, also participate in the protests. Oil refineries are blocked, as are gas receiving terminals. The blockades go beyond production and access to fuel, but there is currently no crisis at French petrol stations. Power production is also affected, but there is currently no power shortage. Workers in Marseille mark their dissatisfaction with the proposed pension reform on Wednesday morning. Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP Strikes against increased retirement age President Emmanuel Macron and his government have set out to raise the retirement age for French men and women. This is to prevent the pension system from collapsing financially in the future and to make it fairer, according to the president. The general retirement age has been proposed to be increased from 62 to 64 years. It is also proposed that people must work for 43 years to get full earnings. Several special provisions for public employees must also be removed. However, the rule that from the age of 67 you receive a full pension without deductions, regardless of how long you have paid into the system, must be retained. The latter does not, however, soften the critics. They claim that in practice many have to work well beyond the age of 64 in order to receive a full pension. They also believe that the reform is unfair to those who start work at a young age, often in low-paid occupations that are physically demanding. On Tuesday, there was a confrontation between the police and the CGT trade union outside Paris during a strike demonstration. Photo: THOMAS SAMSON / AFP 12–17 years shorter life expectancy For occupational groups with heavy physical work, the age limit is lower than the general limit. Employees in the waste industry can now retire from the age of 57, according to the French trade union CGT. If the reform is carried out, they will have to work for another two years, i.e. up to the age of 59. – When I retire, I know I will be poor, says Murielle Gaeremynck to the French news agency AFP. She has worked for over two decades to keep Paris tidy, and is among the waste workers on strike. The 56-year-old says that she will receive a pension of less than 1,200 euros a month, i.e. around NOK 12,000-13,000. The workers are therefore also fighting for a higher pension. Colleague Nail Latreche explains that the job is physically tough and exhausting, and that they should therefore be able to have a dignified retirement. – We work in sun, rain and wind. We stand at the back of the cars, where we breathe in all kinds of emissions. And we often get sick from the work, says Latreche. The major trade union CGT claims to AFP that life expectancy for the professional group is 12-17 years below the average for the French population as a whole. – Our job is to keep Paris clean. None of us are happy to see the rubbish piling up, says Julien Devaux to the TV channel France 24. He is a shop steward in the CGT and stands on strike outside one of the incinerators when he is interviewed. – But people understand that strikes are the only tool we have to defend our rights. He himself works in the drainage agency, among those who organize and fix the sewer network in the capital. They currently have a retirement age of 52, i.e. lower than the waste workers. – I can assure you that three or four hours down in the sewers, which we are on an average day, can be compared to working 48 hours straight. – I know many colleagues who are physically exhausted when they are in their mid-40s. Some die before they have time to retire, many become ill immediately afterwards, says Devaux. According to health researchers at IRNS, sewage workers have twice the risk of dying before the age of 65 than the rest of the population. – The reform means that if we are going to work even longer, more and more people will not get the pension and the retirement years they deserve, says Devaux. Leftover food in uncollected rubbish means that mice and rats have happy days. Photo: ZAKARIA ABDELKAFI / AFP Will probably be adopted Opinion polls show that three out of four French people support those who strike. Several well-known intellectuals have taken their side. So do a number of politicians and parties on the left. But also in the middle and on the right, several are against a change. President Emmanuel Macron says he will stand his ground. The reform proposal is now being considered by the French Parliament. The proposal is expected to gain a majority in the Senate, where Macron’s Renaissance party and its allies have a majority, but faces a more uncertain fate in the National Assembly. There, Macron and the government depend on the support of other conservative parties. A vote in the two chambers could come as early as Thursday. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has indicated that the government may be willing to force through the pension reform without a vote in parliament, through a special procedure section 49.3, if it becomes difficult to collect the necessary support. If the government chooses to use this procedure in the inflamed pension issue, it could again trigger distrust of the government, according to French commentators.
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Rubbish piles up in Paris and rats and mice spread – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
