Hundreds of French workers have taken to the streets to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to raise the legal retirement age, with more than 100 protesters swarming into the Paris headquarters of luxury group LVMH on Thursday. The protesters are calling for the rich to contribute more to financing the state pension, with many waving flags of the railway workers' union Sud Rail. The government argues that raising the retirement age for most workers is necessary to balance the pension budget in the years to come, while unions say the money can be found elsewhere.
LVMH's billionaire Chairman and Chief Executive Bernard Arnault has been a frequent target in slogans and chants during protests in France. The company has benefited from a post-pandemic rebound in demand for luxury goods, with its shares rising nearly 26% since the start of the year, cementing its position as Europe's most valuable company.
Trade unions have been staging strikes and marches since mid-January in protest against the proposed pension reforms, and on Thursday there were more demonstrations across France as unions urged a show of force on the streets ahead of the Constitutional Council's ruling on the legality of the bill that would raise the retirement age by two years to 64. The protesters argue that if the government needs money to finance pensions, it should take it from the pockets of billionaires. The protest at LVMH's headquarters was a symbolic and peaceful demonstration, said Fabien Villedieu, a representative of the Sud Rail union.