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The Latest Breaking News from Sophie Binet

CGT chief faces defamation probe, warns French union freedom is at risk

The general secretary of France’s largest trade union has warned that union freedoms are "in danger" after she was placed under formal investigation for defamation for the second time in six months.

Radio France Internationale

Labour Day sees clashes as French unions demand pay rise and bakery row continues

Labour Day marches across France on Friday focused on wages, workers’ rights and the future of the 1 May public holiday, as unions pushed for higher pay, bakers and florists opened despite legal uncertainty and clashes broke out in Lyon and Nantes.

Radio France Internationale

France roiled by anti-austerity protests as unions demand budget rethink

More than one million people took part in demonstrations across France on Thursday, according to the hardline CGT union. Union leaders hailed the strike as "already a success" and issued a warning to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, demanding fiscal, social and environmental justice in his upcoming budget.

Radio France Internationale

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Lecornu ends perks for former PMs, while balancing demands from left and right

France’s new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has announced that former prime ministers will no longer receive lifetime perks. It follows his decision to scrap a proposal to cut two public holidays – moves seen as intended to placate an increasingly irate population, as he attempts to form a government in…

Radio France Internationale

Macron feels the heat as French workers protest his budget cuts

Thursday’s day of action poses first real test for new PM Sebastien Lecornu.

Al Jazeera

Macron says France does not want to unleash 'World War III' over Ukraine

President Emmanuel Macron has said that France did not want to unleash “World War III” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, vowing referendums on key issues as he outlined his aims for for the remaining two years of his mandate in a marathon television appearance.

Radio France Internationale

Protests, picnics and politics as France marks fraught May Day

France is preparing for large May Day demonstrations on Thursday, as a political row deepens over which businesses should be allowed to open on the country’s most symbolic public holiday.

Radio France Internationale

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Paris Hotel Workers Strike Ahead Of Olympic Opening Ceremony

Paris hotel workers and performers protest over pay and working conditions during the Olympics, amid post-election tensions in France.

Top News

French trade union boss hints at protests during Olympics if left is kept from power

Emmanuel Macron is in denial about the result of France’s snap election, leader of the CGT union says

The Independent UK

CGT union says it will stage strike during Paris Olympics

French public sector workers will strike during the Paris Olympics this summer, the powerful CGT union has warned, adding it would file formal strike notices next month.

Radio France Internationale

Major French union threatens public sector strike during Paris Oympics

A major French union warned of possible strikes, including at hospitals, during the Paris Olympics, when a massive influx of people is in the French capital.

France 24

French union urges civil disobedience to denounce Macron's immigration law

France's powerful CGT trade union has called for nationwide "civil disobedience" following the adoption by parliament of an immigration law designed to toughen conditions for foreigners living in or moving to France.

Radio France Internationale

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Radio France Internationale

Who is Marylise Léon, the new boss of France's largest trade union?

France’s two main trade unions are now led by women after Marylise Léon on Wednesday took the helm of the reformist French Democratic Confederation of Labour, the CFDT – France’s largest union. Her promotion comes three months after Sophie Binet was elected general secretary of the hardline CGT.

Radio France Internationale

French unions make ultimate push to derail pension reform

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets across France on Tuesday for what will be the fourteenth day of demonstrations since January to oppose French President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform.

Reuters

France plans major police presence for June 6 day of protest

French authorities plan to deploy 11,000 police, including 4,000 in Paris, on Tuesday, when unions have called a nationwide day of protests against President Emmanuel Macron's law to raise the retirement age, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

Radio France Internationale

Why French trade unions wield political clout despite low membership

Trade union membership in France has been declining since the 1980s and is now one of the lowest in western Europe. And yet unions can still mobilise widespread strikes and demos, as the recent pension reform protests proved. What's behind this French paradox?

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France 24

Macron vows govt action plan in next 100 days to appease anger over pension reform

The French government will work out a coherent plan to get France back on its feet in the next 100 days and heal the country after weeks of protests against an unpopular pension reform bill, President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised speech on Monday.

Radio France Internationale

French constitutional court debates pension reform behind police barricades

France's Constitutional Council will on Friday rule on the legality of President Emmanuel Macron's deeply unpopular pensions overhaul. Police have errected anti-riot barriers and have banned demonstrations around the seat of the council in central Paris until Saturday morning. Two decisions are to announced by the end of the day.

Reuters

Pension protesters target Paris bistro favoured by Macron

Clashes erupted in Paris next to a Left Bank brasserie favoured by French President Emmanuel Macron as protesters torched garbage cans and smashed two banks during the eleventh day of nationwide demonstrations against pension reform.

Radio France Internationale

French unions rally protesters after pension reform talks end in failure

Crunch talks between trade unions and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on France’s pensions crisis ended in failure after less than an hour on Wednesday morning – with union bosses vowing to press ahead with strikes and protests against government plans to raise the retirement age to 64.

Radio France Internationale

France's CGT union elects first female boss amid fierce pensions dispute

As protests against pensions reform continue, France's second biggest trade union – the hardline CGT – on Friday elected its first ever woman leader. Sophie Binet, 41, emerged as the surprise pick to replace outgoing secretary general Philippe Martinez following a long night of deliberations.

Reuters

French CGT union's first woman leader vows to continue pensions fight

France's hard-left CGT union elected Sophie Binet as its first woman leader on Friday and she vowed to continue her organisation's fight with the government over pension reform.

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