French strikes against pension change

Trade unions in France have denied defeat through pension reform as strike measures petered out along with the bill moved closer to its closing reading.

Trade union leaders insisted the battle to stop the minimal retirement age being raised from 60 to 62 wasn't ending, but "taking various forms".

Stating the measures received lost its meaning, the federal government welcomed the protesters' "return to cause and dialogue".

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Tuesday saw new protests but turnout was a fraction of that noticed previously.

As pupils sought to maintain the road campaign alive with marches in main urban centers, some essential stoppages came to an end: strikers re-opened five of France's 12 oil refineries and rubbish collectors in Marseille resumed get the job done right after two weeks.

The upper household of parliament, the Senate, accredited the closing model of the pensions bill by 177 votes to 151, paving the way in which for your reduce household, the National Assembly, to cast its vote on Wednesday.

The National Assembly is widely expected to pass the bill which President Nicolas Sarkozy argues is definitely an unavoidable measure inside the encounter of France's rapidly ageing population and increasing budget deficit.

The president's approval ratings have plummeted with a file minimal of 29%, in line with a poll printed last Sunday.

Because the country's petrol stations stuffed up yet again for business and Marseille's rubbish collectors commenced the massive process of shifting more than ten,000 tonnes of refuse, Prime Minister Francois Fillon known as on any remaining strikers to back again down.

Whilst remaining defiant, union leaders appeared to accept that a turning-point received been reached inside the dispute.

"We are in a whole new section but a whole new section will not imply everything is through," explained CFDT leader Francois Chereque.

Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT, explained the campaign wasn't through but would "take other forms".

"The parliamentary debate will come to an end and we'll be seeking at it from one more point of view, obviously," he explained.

"We're not calling into question the legitimacy of parliament. but a regulation is often perfectible."

Having said that, trade unions strategy two more nationwide morning of strikes and rallies - the 1st of them this Thursday, the 2nd on six November - just before President Sarkozy signs the brand new bill into regulation.

The National Assembly's speaker, Bernard Accoyer, explained representatives of the opposition Socialist and also other events received attended a meeting of the steering committee on Tuesday for your 1st time considering that calling a boycott through the pensions debate.

Economy Minister Christine Lagarde explained that in spite of the cost of the refinery strikes, which she put this month at 200-400m euros (£178-356m, $280-560m) per day in lost production, the federal government did not assume 2010 growth to be knocked off program.

She welcomed the easing of the industrial measures, saying: "There's no winner and no loser in this matter.

"What's really vital is the fact that folks take responsibility for their actions. It really is to realise that the economic system needs to turn through."
'Sarko, you might be finished'

In Paris, pupils, school kids and workers marched underneath banners towards the Senate on Tuesday but their numbers appeared much smaller than at preceding rallies.

Turnout inside the south-western city of Toulouse, which has the most significant college campus exterior Paris, was no more than 300, Reuters information agency described.

Having said that, as much as 2,000 folks to the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion marched as a result of the cash Saint-Denis.

A slogan described by Reunion on the web newspaper Clicanoo read: "Sarko [nickname for Sarkozy], you might be finished. The youth are inside the streets. There is one particular option - to display."

Undergraduate rallies had been on account of be held to the night in urban centers including Lyon and Tours, in line with posts on Le Monde's internet site, which ran a particular "student measures day" dwell page.

Having said that, the paper received ended its dwell coverage of the protests by 1727 community time