“Several dozens of CGT militants entered the building for a few minutes to display banners against the pension reform. There was no violence or damage,” a spokesman for the Games told Reuters.
Union leaders gathered outside the National Assembly in Paris ahead of nationwide protest marches in a last-ditch attempt to pressure lawmakers to repeal a law already on the statutory books.
President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force through the reform with special constitutional powers sparked angry protests this spring, but the issue has slowly receded from the media agenda, making it difficult for unions to mobilize.
“The protests have been going on for six months, it’s unprecedented,” Sophie Binet, the new leader of the CGT union, said on BFM TV. “There is a lot of anger, but also exhaustion,” she said, adding that the strikers were feeling the effects on wages.
However, Binet bet on an “extremely high” level of mobilization on Tuesday and said that the CGT was prepared to maintain the fight against the reform in the coming weeks.
Between 400,000 and 600,000 people are expected to join protests across France, according to authorities, which would be a drop from the more than a million who took part in the marches at the height of protests over pensions a beginning of the year.
“This is probably one of the last days of protests against the reform,” Laurent Berger, leader of the more moderate French Democratic Labor Confederation (CFDT), told Europe 1 radio.
The CFDT must now turn the anger into a “show of force” in talks with the government on issues such as improving working conditions or purchasing power, he said.
