Truckers block roads as strikes in France disrupt weekend travel

PARIS — Strikes disrupted weekend travel around France on Saturday as truckers blocked highways and most trains remained at a standstill because of worker anger at President Emmanuel Macron’s policies.

Meanwhile, yellow vest protesters held their weekly demonstrations over economic injustice in Paris and other cities, under the close watch of police. The marchers appear emboldened by the biggest national protests in years Thursday that kicked off a mass movement against the government’s plan to redesign the national retirement system.

As the strikes entered a third day Saturday, tourists and shoppers faced shuttered subway lines around Paris and near-empty train stations. Other groups are joining the fray, too.

Truckers striking over a fuel tax hike disrupted traffic on highways from Provence in the southeast to Normandy in the northwest. A similar fuel tax is what unleashed the yellow vest movement a year ago, and the convergence of grievances could pose a major new threat to Macron’s presidency.

The travel chaos is not deterring the government so far. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe plainly told the French in an address Friday: “You’re going to have to work longer.”

He will present details of the plan this week. The government says it won’t raise the official retirement age of 62, but the plan is expected to including financial conditions to encourage people to work longer. Philippe did offer one olive branch, saying the changes would be progressive so that they don’t become “brutal.”

Macron says the reform, which will streamline a convoluted system of 42 special pension plans, will make the system more fair and financially sustainable. Unions, however, see the plan as a threat to hard-fought workers’ rights, and are digging in for what they hope is a protracted strike.

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