A-Infos (en) France, UCL - Retreats, let's not waste our life earning it! (ca, de, it, fr, pt, tr)[machine translation]

To defend their pension reform, the government and the employers are aiming to 
make people forget the essential: it is we, the workers, who produce the wealth 
and make society run. This attack is a new offensive by the bourgeoisie to 
condemn the entire workforce to ever longer and unbearable exploitation. Let's go 
back in detail to their false arguments, which we are fed repeatedly in the 
media... ---- A necessary reform? ---- According to the Minister of Labour, our 
pension system is in deficit. X WRONG! This is not the rationale for reform. In 
2021 there was even a surplus of 900 million Ero and this amount would exceed 3 
billion for 2022. The Pensions Orientation Council (COR) projects a transition to 
a deficit over the next 25 years only in 1 out of 4 scenarios, and with a return 
to equilibrium for 2070.

According to the government, working hours must be increased so as not to lower 
pensions. X WRONG! The decrease in funding desired by the government creates an 
artificial deficit. On the contrary, financing could be improved by increasing 
contributions on high salaries, the contribution of income from savings and 
capital, reducing the gender pay gap by increasing women's salaries, creating a 
student salary, etc. The alternatives abound!

An urgent reform?
According to the government, the reform is an absolute emergency. X WRONG! Or 
else, only for the capitalists! The real reason might surprise you: Macron 
himself explains that his objective is to "compensate for corporate tax cuts"...

The MEDEF repeats that our European neighbors have all already pushed back the 
starting age, that we have to align ourselves. X WRONG! The starting age in 
France is certainly in the low average, but the starting age without discount, at 
67, suffered by the most fragile (choked careers, etc.) is already at the highest 
level in Europe. And the pensioners of these countries are in even more misery.

A just reform?
Prime Minister says reform is good for women. X WRONG! Increasing the required 
contribution period worsens the situation for women. She cites as a reason the 
maintenance of the retirement age without discount at 67, but the reality is that 
women's pensions are still 33% lower than those of men and the reform does 
nothing to correct that.

The government claims that the reform benefits the precarious with a minimum 
pension of Ero1,200/month. X WRONG! The reform does not bring anything positive 
for the most precarious. This amount corresponds to 85% of the minimum wage, 
which has already been an obligation since the 2003 reform, but has never been 
applied! Moreover, as the trade unions point out, this minimum only concerns full 
careers, and remains below a minimum wage that is already too low.

An obvious reform?
We are constantly told: "as we live longer, we have to work longer". X WRONG! And 
if we live longer, it is precisely because we worked less! Except that already, 
it depends on who! Life expectancy in good health is absolutely not the same for 
managers and workers. A third of workers and a quarter of employees are already 
disabled at retirement age.

The Prime Minister affirms that shifting the retirement age would increase the 
employment rate of seniors. X WRONG! It is in fact above all a net increase in 
precariousness! In practice, this increases even more the number of seniors who 
are unemployed, on disability, on long-term illness... especially among the most 
popular categories, workers and manual workers.

Retirement should not be the antechamber of death after a life dedicated to work. 
Let us no longer accept to work more and more for the profits of a few. Let us 
regain control over our lives and our work so that it becomes emancipatory and 
socially useful. Let's fight, kick the exploiters, and self-manage all of society!

Everyone on strike from January 19 to defend our pensions!
Libertarian Communist Union, January 13, 2023.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Ne-perdons-pas-notre-vie-a-la-gagner
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