Bags of rubbish pile up on the streets of Paris ©Michel Euler/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved.The strike of garbage collectors continues in Paris, with thousands of tons of rubbish piling up on the streets. The waste disposal sector has been shut down for a week in protest against the government’s unpopular pension reform.
Three incineration plants outside the capital were hit by the disruption that left entire sidewalks covered in black bags and overflowing bins.
The capital’s household waste agency, Syctom, said it had diverted garbage trucks to other storage and treatment sites in the region and had not yet appealed to the police.
In the last week, city hall employees have collected waste in only half of the districts of Paris. The strike has affected some of the most exclusive areas including the 5th, 6th and 16th arrondissements.
Other districts are served by private firms that did not strike.
According to the far-left trade union CGT, garbage collectors and drivers can currently retire from the age of 57, but face two more years of work under reform plans that still guarantee early retirement for those facing difficult working conditions.
The main reform measure and key policy of President Emmanuel Macron’s second term is an increase in the general minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, considered by many to be unfair to people who start working early.
The strike comes on Saturday as the French senate approved the controversial bill by 175 votes to 112. The legislation will then be analyzed by a commission made up of seven senators and seven lower house lawmakers, who will work to present a final version of the bill. bill for a parliamentary vote on Thursday.
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