By Chris Latham
November 14, 2010 -- Green Left Weekly -- President Nicolas Sarkozy enacted a new law on November 10 that
increases the retirement age of French workers. The move came just days
after more than a million workers and students mobilised across France
against the law.
The November 6 protests were the eighth national strike and protests
since September 7 against the bill — although it was the easily the
smallest of the mobilisations.
The protest highlighted the depth of ongoing popular anger over the
changes, which were pushed through parliament on October 27. However,
the decline in the size of the protests reflects growing divisions in
the movement over its direction now the law has been passed.
Sarkozy enacted the law just hours after it had been approved by the
Constitutional Council. There had been hopes among some union leaders
and left groups that the council would reject the bill.