French Support for Strikes Against Pension Reform Rises: Poll

(Bloomberg) -- Public support in France for strikes and protests against government plans to reform the retirement system rose compared with attitudes earlier in January, a poll showed.

A total of 49% of those surveyed said they either supported or agreed with the protests, according to polling by Ifop for the Journal du Dimanche on Jan. 9-10. That was up from support of 47% on Jan. 7-8 and 44% on Jan. 2-3.

The latest survey was done before the French government signaled on Saturday that it’s prepared to scrap an effort to raise the age at which workers can retire with full benefits to 64, in a bid to get the country’s moderate unions on board with President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plan.

• Strike support was below the 54%-level recorded in mid-December
• Survey of 1,007 adults representative of the French population conducted online Jan. 9-10

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Katz in Paris at akatz5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Katz at akatz5@bloomberg.net, James Amott

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