By Monday, over 7,000 tons of garbage has accumulated on the streets of Paris due to a strike by waste collectors against the pension system reform bill proposed by President Emmanuel Macron.
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The strike, which waste collectors started eight days ago, poses serious health problems for the city, where more and more rats have appeared. This situation exacerbated the conflict between the Macron administration and local authorities led by left-wing Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Finance Minister Gabriel Attal suggested forcing garbage collectors to work by decree, as happened last year in a similar strike in Marseille, and accused Hidalgo of promoting this strike to slander Macron.
"If the Macron administration retired its pension system reform plan, which intends to raise the minimum retirement age to 64, garbage collectors will return to work immediately," Paris Cleaning Councilwoman Colombe Brossel replied.
On Wednesday, a commission made by seven French senators and seven lower house representatives will meet to draft a new proposal for the pension system reform bill. Such a proposal shall summarize the adjustments suggested by both parliamentary chambers to the original reform proposed by Macron.
Once this commission drafts its proposal, Lower House and Senate representatives will discuss and vote on the new text on Thursday. Macron expects that the pension system reform bill will be approved by an absolute majority since most legislators belong to pro-government parties.
Nevertheless, many of these legislators have not yet confirmed that they will support this bill, which requires citizens to have at least 43 years of work to be eligible for a full pension starting in 2027.