In France, thousands of retirees demonstrate to demand an increase in pensions

Published on: 03/24/2022 – 20:23 Thousands of retirees hit the pavement Thursday in some twenty major French cities, at the call of nine organizations, to demand an increase in their pensions in the midst of the outbreak inflation. “Fed up with being mistreated”: several thousand retirees demonstrated on Thursday, March 24, in around twenty large cities to demand an increase in pensions, in the midst of soaring inflation and two weeks before the presidential election.”Macron, give back the money!” : in the Parisian procession, the message was clear, its recipient too. According to the organizers, 3,000 people marched through the capital at the start of the afternoon, to demand, like some, a “13th month for retirees”. every month” when “everything increases, gasoline, pasta, potatoes”. Result: “We no longer go to the restaurant once a week, we have to tighten our belts.” A “catch-up” requested Purchasing power was at the heart of the demands of the “group of nine” unions and associations which called for this day of mobilization, their twelfth since the start of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term. Two and a half weeks before the first round of the presidential election, and in the midst of soaring inflation, they are demanding a “catch-up” of their pensions. retirement, which have already not followed the rise in prices in recent years. “age discrimination”. Also in Lyon, in a crowd of 1,400 to 1,500 demonstrators (respectively according to the prefecture and the CGT), the former IT specialist Sylvie Touleron regrets that retirees are “often forgotten, so than our level life does not follow”, in particular for women, “many of whom are below the poverty line”. Some even live “in misery” and “we cannot accept this kind of situation in the 21st century”, s’ indignant Robert Rutto, former employee in a nuclear power plant. Identical observation in Nantes, where 200 people demonstrated at the beginning of the afternoon, including Régine Grasset, former saleswoman: “I worked 42 years and today I touch 1 100 euros per month. Sometimes, watching for promotions at the supermarket, I say to myself ‘really, all that for that? Agnès Hiret, ex-teacher, judges the last revaluation of January “very far from the mark” and asks “that the increase in pensions follow that of inflation”. “Young people will eat bricks” Former worker in the chemical industry , Bernard Bourlon believes for his part that he has “correct income” but fights “especially for the following”, because “if the young people do not fight, they will eat bricks”. The grievances also extend to the presence of public services in rural areas, the cost of complementary health insurance or the coverage of dependency by Social Security. criticized Jacques Auffèves, head of the CGT-Retired du Rhône. “The re treated are fed up with being mistreated”, explains Monique Daune, Parisian secretary of the union of retired teachers Snes-FSU. “The elderly have paid a heavy price during the health crisis, and it took the Orpea scandal for the public authorities to realize that there was a problem”, she adds. other demonstrations had already brought together a hundred people in Puy-en-Velay according to the police, 220 people in Caen for the prefecture (350 according to the CGT). In the Norman capital, Isabelle Cruchet, retired from the public service, has considered that “pensions fuel the dynamism of the economy” and launched: “When will we have the respect we deserve?” With AFP