The four unions at the French railway company SNCF have called for “a day of anger” next Thursday. They announced this on Saturday in response to the official announcement of the controversial pension reform.
“The nightly promulgation of the law does not change our fight. We will not proceed until this law has been abolished,” CGT-Cheminots, Unsa-Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots said in a statement.
The railway unions have already held several strikes against raising the retirement age to 64 and are announcing “a day of anger” for April 20. It takes place on the eve of the start of the school holidays in the Paris region and the south.
The unions describe April 20 as “a preparatory stage” to May 1, Labor Day. “The social violence orchestrated by the government and the president of the rich obliges us to remain mobilized,” they said in the statement.
Despite months of protest, the legislation raising the retirement age appeared in the French official journal on Saturday. President Emmanuel Macron signed the text on Friday evening after the Constitutional Council had given the green light earlier in the day.
