Power cuts in France amid pension reform strike

Energy workers temporarily halted power generation at France’s biggest hydro-electricity plant in protest against president Emmanuel Macron’s proposed pension reform.
The power cut lasted 90 minutes. A worker union representative said that the cut was intended to “have an impact on the economy and above all make ourselves heard”.
“It’s not the end of the world to have a power cut, it usually doesn’t last longer than a morning”, he said.
The strikes began when Macron announced reforms that would simplify the existing pension system, which consists of more than 40 different schemes, and Macron sees as unfair and too costly.
Under the new rules, the worker will receive a lower pension if they were self-employed for a while, or had health issues that prevented them from working for some period. Unions also rejected the government’s promise that the reform would not impact anyone born before 1975.
Earlier this month, the government offered a compromise with workers’ unions, saying that it would “provisionally” withdraw plans to increase workers’ retirement age of 64, two years more the official retirement age.
However, unions were not satisfied, as the offer only extends to those retiring in the next seven years, which means the “pivot age” system could still be implemented for people retiring after 2027.