French Transport Minister Clement Bonne said today that public transport in France will face serious problems on Tuesday due to union strikes to protest planned government changes to pensions.

“This is going to be a tough, very tough day for public transport… We expect major challenges,” the minister told LCI TV.

He added that the government was still open to negotiations with unions, but stressed that the government would keep the main goal of the change proposed by President Emmanuel Macron, which is to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.

“The essence of the reform will not change,” he commented.

The government wants to gradually raise the retirement age by three months every year from September until 2030.

President Macron said that he was elected with a pension reform plan and that without these changes, the country’s pension system cannot remain financially viable.

The unions organized the first major mobilization on January 19, when more than a million citizens opposed the plans in various cities across the country.

Last week the unions planned a 48-hour strike at nuclear and oil refineries on Thursday and Friday, but the plan was abandoned a day later when the hardline union CGT announced that workers would prefer to join a nationwide strike on Tuesday.

Source: RES