French pension protesters flood LVMH headquarters in Paris

PARIS - Scores of French workers protesting against pension reforms poured into the Paris headquarters of luxury group LVMH on Thursday, calling for the rich to contribute more to financing the state pension.

More than 100 protesters were seen milling around the wood-panelled entrance hall of the building on the upscale Avenue Montaigne and climbing an escalator that leads to the upper floors, while others filled the street outside, many waving flags of the railway workers’ union Sud Rail.

“If you’re looking for money to finance pensions, take it from the pockets of billionaires,” Mr Fabien Villedieu, a representative of the Sud Rail union said, stressing that the protest was “symbolic and peaceful”.

France’s labour unions have been staging strikes and marches since mid-January in protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the legal retirement age.

On Thursday, there were more demonstrations across France as trade unions urged a show of force on the streets a day before the Constitutional Council’s ruling on the legality of the Bill that would raise the retirement age by two years to 64.

Mr Macron and his government say it is necessary to raise the retirement age for most workers to balance the pension budget in years to come and ensure the generous system does not go bust. The unions say this can be done by other means and that 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. LVMH has benefited from a post-pandemic rebound in demand for luxury goods, and its shares have risen nearly 26 per cent since the start of 2023, cementing its lead as Europe’s most valuable company.

Political observers say the widespread discontent over the government’s reform could have longer-term repercussions, including a possible boost for the far right.

“I’m not that optimistic about the Constitutional Council’s decision,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who opposes the pension legislation, told BFM TV. “But what do you want me to do? Burn cars? We’ll just tell the French: Vote for the National Rally.”

“The president of the republic is completely disconnected from the preoccupations of workers,” the head of the CFDT union, Mr Laurent Berger, told reporters ahead of the Paris rally.

Earlier this week, refining operations resumed at TotalEnergies’ Gonfreville refinery, France’s largest by barrels-per-day, the last of the company’s domestic refineries to restart after a month-long shutdown.

Some deliveries of refined products from two of those sites were disrupted on Thursday, a TotalEnergies spokesman said.

On the Rhine River, cargo traffic was disrupted after workers cut power at a waterway lock near the border with Germany and Switzerland and run by France’s state-owned energy company EDF, a union official said. REUTERS