French unions rally supporters to the streets ahead of ruling on Macron reforms

“This is certainly not the last day of the strike,” Sophie Binet, the new leader of the hard-left CGT union, said at blockade of an incinerator outside Paris.

Macron must withdraw this law, “or he won’t be able to govern the country,” she said.

“Incinerator workers, garbage collectors, are on strike until further notice, until the withdrawal of the pension reform,” said CGT unionist Loic Gefrotin, on the picket lines of another trash treatment plant in the Paris region, in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Macron said he would organize a meeting with unions after the Council’s decision to start working on other proposals — an initiative the CGT said would be short-lived if he was not ready to discuss withdrawing the pension reform.

“The country must continue to move forward, work, and face the challenges that await us,” Macron told a news conference late on Wednesday.

Political observers have said the widespread discontent over the government’s reform could have longer-term repercussions, including a possible boost for the far right.

“I’m not that optimistic about the Constitutional Council’s decision,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who opposes the pension legislation, told BFM TV. “But what do you want me to do? Burn cars? We’ll just tell the French: Vote for the National Rally.”

Macron and his government argue the law is essential to ensure that France’s generous pension system does not go bust.

Unions say this can be done by other means, including taxing the rich more, or making deeper changes to the pension system.