French worker strike over plans to raise State retirement age to 64.

 

For the last two-months there have been protests and cross-sector strikes in France over Emmanuel Macron's plan to increase the State retirement age in France from 62 to 64 years of age. The streets of Paris are now overflowing with waste and rubbish because Parisian refuse collectors are on strike against plans to increase their retirement age from 57 to 59.

Britain not only as one of the least generous State pension schemes in Europe, but British workers work for far longer before retiring. The current retirement age for men and women is 66 years and the government are planning to increase this to 68 years by 2044 or it could be earlier. Those who do not qualify for the New State Pension of £185.15 p.w. receive the old basic State Pension of £141.85 p.w. 

As the State retirement age increases, many British workers, particularly manual workers, will not live long enough to get a State old age pension and the government knows this. Although the government and your GP might tell you that work is good for you, industrial disease and industrial accidents are the cause of death for many British workers. According to the TUC, at least 20,000 British workers die prematurely each year because of occupational disease - occupational cancers, lung diseases like COPD, mesothelioma (asbestos), chronic bronchitis and emphysema, cardiovascular disease, caused by stress, breathing in fumes, chemicals and dusts.

There is considerable evidence that manual workers leading a tougher life on lower incomes than the professional classes, have a much shorter life expectancy. Poverty and social deprivation, smoking and alcohol, along with a poor diet, also shortens life expectancy.