French union activists disrupted two of the country’s eight oil refineries as part of nationwide strikes against a higher retirement age that have lasted for 23 days, the longest such walkout in France in decades.The current action, at more than three weeks, is now longer than a 1995 transport workers strike that looms large in the nation’s modern history. The strike under Jacques Chirac’s presidency also was over pension reform and ended after 22 days w hen the government backed down.
This time, President Emmanuel Macron appears determined to push through the retirement overhaul and raise the official pension eligibility age to 64.
