멈춰선 프랑스…전국서 연금개편 저지 총파업, 대규모 집회 Thousands of workers in France took to the streets on Thursday against President Emmaneul Macron's proposed pension reforms.
The Eiffel Tower has been shut down and most of the rail lines in Paris have been disrupted.
Our Eum Ji-young has more.
France's largest general strike in decades has shut down large parts of the country in the latest protest against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans.
According to French police, more than 800,000 workers nationwide launched a general strike on Thursday, calling for Macron to abandon the reforms.
There were even violent clashes between protesters and police in some cities.
More than 10 Metro lines were closed in Paris and only 10 percent of trains operated as railway workers joined the walk-out.
Many schools were also closed and about 20% of all flights going into and out of Paris and other large cities have been canceled.
Workers in France are angry about a proposed pension reform which would see them get reduced payouts or have to retire later.
Currently, France's pension plan has 42 separate systems with variations in retirement age and benefits.
The official retirement age is currently 62, but some 'special schemes' allow certain public sector workers to retire as early as 50.
However for the sake of equality, France President Emmanuel Macron wants to create a unified system where everyone's pension would be calculated the same way.
He aims to implement a points-based system where the employees are awarded points for each day worked which would be transferred into future pension benefits.
The protesters claim that they would be short-changed as the proposed reforms would remove many of the pension benefits for certain jobs like lawyers and railway workers.
Eum Ji-young Arirang News.
#France #reform #pension
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