Fresh Round of Strikes Rocks France

By Staff, Agencies 

France faces another day of strikes on Wednesday over highly contested pension reforms which President Emmanuel Macron appears on the verge of pushing through despite months of protests.

As the legislation enters the final stretch in parliament, trade unions are set to make another attempt to pressure the government and lawmakers into rejecting the proposed hike in the retirement age to 64.

The last day of protests on Saturday saw a far lower turnout than in the previous rounds, while strikes from railway, refinery and public sector workers last week did not paralyze the country in the way that unions had hoped.

The most visible impact of the standoff so far has been the accumulation of rubbish in the streets of Paris, where garbage collectors and street cleaners have stopped work.

“We won't have the same level of disturbances of public transport as during previous protest days,” Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Tuesday.

The main suspense is whether Macron's minority government can muster the required number of votes in the lower parliament, where it will need the support of the opposition Republicans party [LR] in order to pass the legislation.

A joint vote from the lower National Assembly and the Senate could come as early as Thursday.