World News: The French Mobilize Over Pension Reform

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Monday, 06 March 2023 07:56

Written by Olivier Longhi

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing another pushback to his social reform as workers throughout the Republic are mobilizing against his proposed pension reforms as the reforms could, ultimately, redefine the relationship with the value of work.

To say that the opposition born of the pension reform desired by the Government is the result of a relationship of alienation of the French at work has become commonplace. So much so that today other reasons tend to explain the tensions surrounding the reform currently being examined by the Senate before returning to the National Assembly for the vote of adoption or rejection.

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These reasons linked to the desire of employees to be able to enjoy their old age and, more generally,  to free themselves from all professional obligations are naturally legitimate and perfectly audible. However, they may obscure the ultimate reason, namely that alienating, work has now become for many a suffering both physical and psychological.

Nervously exhausting or physically demanding, work is now suffered and not experienced, to varying degrees depending on the sector of activity in which one evolves but It remains nevertheless a source of discomfort more than happiness.

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Demographics and Competition

Thus, many people  question the value of  work, namely what work brings, regardless of the financial, social, and human aspect with regard to the concessions it imposes.  Another questioning, also implicit, is the meaning  that each one seeks in his work or the meaning, as such, of the work done.

The subject, which is more a matter of sociology and psychology than of a demographic argument, with technical value for the latter, quickly crosses the boundaries of   the   classic and tired debate. posed by the desire to  enjoy one's old age or to exempt oneself from professional obligations.

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Because like any society, work has also evolved and matured over the centuries. The perception of it is not necessarily the same as it was fifty or forty years ago. Having become suffering, a space of   psychologically trying competition, subjected to economic cycles  in which full employment and   mass unemployment alternate, work has become   

The best enemy of employees. Economically and financially indispensable, work is also cruel and cannibalistic as it is capable of engulfing individuals forced to  comply to ensure their survival.   Naturally, a more detailed   analysis of the critics of the reform  proves that it is the  most exposed and fragile categories that denounce the  majority of   the   reform. raising the retirement age.

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It would be difficult to blame them, but they also remain   a testament to  the need to rethink work for years to come. Should it remain a vector of  economic survival or should it become a vector of social bond?  But in a  globalized society where liberalism has imposed itself  without a hitch, to imagine   such a mutation would be to change not only the  primary vocation of work but also the   global economic model. And who is ready for that?        

Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.