The French in the Street are Fighting for Us All

A good synopsis of French president Emmanuel Macron's pension reduction scheme can be found in WSWS's "French unions meet prime minister to sell out mass strike to defend pensions":

The main measures in these cuts are a two-year increase in the retirement age to 64, the elimination of public-sector retirement plans, and going over to a system where workers receive “points” from their pension plans. The monetary value of these “points” is not fixed, and the state can modify them at will over time. As former Prime Minister François Fillon said in 2016, such a system “allows for one thing that no politician is admitting. It allows for reducing each year the size, the value of the points and thus to diminish the level of pensions.”

When a "man on the street" is quoted in mainstream media reports on this strike, the lack of definition of these "points" is usually cited. As Fillon correctly notes, the values of points will simply be watered down as the government wishes. No doubt the administrative power to do so will be included in whatever legislation Macron introduces in February.

Support for the strike remains high:

After nearly two million workers, students, youth and retirees marched against Macron on Tuesday, strikes and protests took place on Wednesday and will continue in the next days. Popular support for the strike remains high. According to an RTL poll, 62 percent of respondents said they supported the strike.

But the problem is that Macron La République En Marche control's the National Assembly. Macron can ram it through, something he promises to do.

Make no mistake. This struggle over the French pension system is a critical battle for the zombie peak neoliberalism Washington Consensus.

If the French working class fails and its best-in-the-world system of retirement is devoured by the ravenous flesh-eating zombie, well, then, we have an answer to the question I often ask on this page. 

How much longer for neoliberalism?

Longer still.