Paris it’s dirty. Those who walk the streets must be careful not to collide with the rubbish bags piled up on the sidewalks. Rats and pigeons eat scraps of food scattered on the ground. An unpleasant stench hangs in the air in the French capital as its workers strike against the president’s proposed pension reform. Emmanuel Macron.
The City of Love has become the City of Trash since its street sweepers joined the strike and sat idle a week ago. According to the Paris administration, around seven tons of rubbish are piled up on the sidewalks without anyone picking them up. If Paris was once defined as a party, today it is “a huge garbage can in the open air”, according to the French transport minister. Clement Beaune.
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The situation is expected to get worse this week when Parliament debates and votes on the government’s proposal to raise the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64. The Macron government argues that the reform is necessary to maintain the country’s social security balance, but workers argue they will be penalized most while alternatives such as raising taxes on companies are ignored.
Lewis Joly/Associated Press
A man walks past a pile of rubbish on a Paris street, pictured Monday 13th. Street sweepers in the city went on strike against Macron’s pension reform Photo: Lewis Joly/Associated Press
The proposal would raise the retirement age for street sweepers, who are considered a special category due to unhealthy conditions, from 57 to 59. Unions say the increase is unacceptable due to the nature of the work, which involves public collection workers carrying heavy loads, being exposed to toxic materials and working irregular hours, leading to health problems more often than in other categories.
The strike was launched a week ago to put pressure on the government and will last at least until next Monday 20th. Internally, it provoked a row between Macron’s ministers over the best response, which was increasingly demanded by Parisians. Around half of the French capital’s neighborhoods including some of the wealthiest are covered by municipal services.
The private service is responsible for the other half and continues to work, but the collected garbage has nowhere to go because of the blockades by the strikers in front of the incinerators on the outskirts of Paris. The stench gets stronger every day and rats are lured onto the streets in broad daylight.
French pension reform
public health problems
Rats are a problem in Paris, even though garbage is picked up regularly. In July, the National Academy of Medicine of France said the capital has between 1.5 and 1.75 per capita, making it one of the 10 most afflicted cities in the world.
If the estimate is correct, Paris, with a population of 2.1 million, has between 3.1 million and 3.6 million rodents that can transmit diseases to humans through droppings, bites or scratches.
In an interview with France 2, Clement Beaune described the workers’ strike as a “public health and hygiene problem” due to the increased risk of illness. Concerns are also growing in the tourism sector, at a time when Paris is preparing to host the 2024 olympic games. On social networks, Parisians joke and spread memes saying that the mouse is the new Olympic mascot for next year’s competition.
The government said it had ordered Paris police to break the strike by force and force key workers back to work. However, the measure was opposed by the Mayor of Paris and affiliated with the Socialist Party, Anne Hidalgo.
Hidalgo is a member of Macron’s opposition and supports the strike. The city’s deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the city had hired private companies to keep the sidewalk clean so the trash didn’t become a public health problem, and blamed the situation on the Macron government for failing to do so talked to the unions about the reform. “No one is happy with this situation,” Gregoire said.
rejection history
This is the second time Emmanuel Macron’s government has faced opposition from the country’s workers for its pension reform project. The president was reelected for a second term last year and tried to make the changes in 2019 but withdrew following protests, strikes and the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic. This time, however, he is banking on reforms as a political legacy of his presidency.
The current proposal provides for gradually raising the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64 years. Every year the minimum age would be raised by three months to up to two years. Excluded are special categories, including garbage collectors, due to unsanitary conditions.
Christophe Archambault/AFP
Pedestrians walk near piles of rubbish in Paris, pictured this Wednesday, 15. Lack of collection has increased rat numbers and is causing an unpleasant odor in the streets of the French capital Photo: Christophe Archambault/AFP
Macron argues that reform is needed to keep the system financially sustainable as life expectancy increases and the number of retirees increases. The opposition claims that the President is unaware of workers’ reality and that workers will suffer more from the changes.
Strikes over the problem disrupted public transport to the power plants for weeks.
The proposal was approved in the Senate on the 11th of this month, but the National Assembly failed to approve it by the deadline. Now it is being analyzed by a commission composed of parliamentarians from both chambers of parliament, with the aim of finding a consensus to present a text to parliament that can find enough support to vote and approve. The committee started its work on Wednesday and the vote is scheduled for this Thursday.
Michel Euler/Associated Press
Garbage cans at the entrance to the Élysée Palace in Paris, pictured on Monday 13th. Government opposition to proposed amendment prolongs crisis Photo: Michel Euler/Associated Press
If the chambers fail to reach an agreement, the French constitution gives Macron’s government the power to force reforms by decree without a vote. This measure is seen as unpopular and the government has said it wants to avoid it.
So far it looks like the conflict between the government and the unions will continue. Meanwhile, Paris is still dirty, rats and pigeons are still rampant, and piles of rubbish share the street’s attention with the Eiffel Tower. Paris is no longer a party. / TRANSLATION BY LUIZ HENRIQUE GOMES