Workers in the security, cleaning, hotel, restaurant and catering and meal voucher sectors gathered for a joint picket outside the European Parliament, with banners demanding respect, purchasing power and the abandonment of the increase of the pension age to 67.
Nic Görtz, of the CSC Food and Services union, said, “Purchasing power worries us. People are saying today that, around the 16th of any given month is already ‘the end of month’ [in terms of their disposable income]. Our request on pensions hinges on three elements. We wish to be employed until the end of our career at 55, to be entitled to early retirement pension benefits at 60, and to our full pension entitlement at 65. Essentially, everything which the government has taken away, we would like back.”
Görtz says, “There are two solutions. The first is worker mobilisation. We are indeed witnessing with the “gilets jaunes” that something is taking place, and we should follow that example. Secondly we can vote differently in the May 2019 elections.”
Oscar Schneider
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