Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday defied striking workers on Wednesday with plans for a long-anticipated overhaul of France’s byzantine pension system that he said would be fairer and encourage people to work longer.

France will replace a convoluted system of more than 42 separate State-funded plans with a universal, points-based system that will apply to those entering the job market for the first time in 2022, Philippe said in a speech that followed days of protests and strikes.

He did though show some flexibility to unions over the timing of the implementation of the plan, saying anyone within 17 years of retirement would be exempt. “The time has come to build a universal pension system,” Philippe said in a much-anticipated speech. “There is no hidden agenda. “We want to protect the purchasing power of the workers and pensioners of today and tomorrow.”

The legal retirement age would remain at 62, the Prime Minister said, but workers will be incentivised to work longer. He said he expected that within five years the average worker would retire at 64.

There would be a minimum pension of €1,000 per month for those who worked a full career.

The hard-left CGT union accused the prime minister of turning a deaf ear to the strikers. “We're not at all happy,” CGT leader Philippe Martinez told LCI television. “It is a joke and in particular it makes a mockery of those who are fighting today.”

The CGT union has called for further protests on Thursday and next Tuesday. Opinion polls have shown strong public sympathy for the strikers but long-lasting industrial action might jeopardise this.

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