The French Perform the Largest Protest of the Last Four Decades

On Tuesday, the Democratic French Confederation of Labor (CFDT) claimed to have achieved the largest citizen mobilization of the last 40 years during protests against the reform of pensions proposed by President Emmanuel Macron.

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The government "cannot continue so deaf against such massive demonstrations," the CFDT Secretary Laurent Berger while marching with other union leaders in Paris.

Currently, fuel shipments are suspended in all refineries across France as a nationwide strike was mobilized against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plan.

"The strike started everywhere... with shipments blocked at the exit of all the refineries this morning," the General Confederation of Labour said, as reported by Le Figaro.

However, Frederic Plan, a delegate of the French Federation of Fuels and Heating, said that the block of fuel deliveries from refineries would not have a severe impact on service stations. He said the energy management had prepared for this kind of situation with strategic stocks.

The tweet reads, "What we want is a general strike in Montpellier and throughout France."

"We confirm that there is no lack of fuel in our stations. In addition, stocks in depots and service stations are at a high level," France's largest fuel company Total Energies also said, assuring that its teams were mobilized to meet an as-usual or even surplus demand.

Main French unions have called on workers to "bring France to a halt in all sectors on March 7" in order to protest against the long-disputed pension reform.

In January, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne laid out details of the pension reform plan, which would progressively raise the legal retirement age by three months a year from 62 to 64 by 2030, and introduce a guaranteed minimum pension. 

Under President Macron's pension reform plan, it would require at least 43 years of work to be eligible for a full pension starting in 2027.