Toulouse: retirees in the street to ask for an increase in the basic pension and additional
Under the slogan “Live well your retirement, a requirement!”, About 250 people declared, this Friday, October 1, in Toulouse at the call of several trade union organizations. On the menu of demands: an increase in pensions, basic and supplementary pensions.
The demonstration of retirees in Toulouse, which brought together around 250 people, this Friday, October 1, at the call of a collective made up of several union organizations but not only (USR-CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, Solidaires, Retraités function public, LSR and the Human Rights League), beginning with a minute of silence.
“In memory of all the elderly who disappeared during the health crisis,” said a spokesperson at the microphone, in front of the exit of the Jean Jaurès metro from where the procession started. “Initially, we should go to the prefecture, but we did not have the authorization, we are retired but we are taken for terrorists,” says a protester on condition of anonymity.
On the demands side, the demonstrators demand from the government several advances in terms of purchasing power, as explained by Hubert Dandine, member of the USR CGT 31. “In the first place, it is the purchasing power with the increase pensions which have been blocked since 2013. It is not the increases of 0.4% of January 1 and the 1% of the additional ones that compensate for the shortfall. ‘we hear these days about the increase in gas, electricity and all the rest “.
The health coverage in question
For unions, the median salary of a retiree today is 1,500 euros per month. In the best of cases, emphasizes Hubert Dandine. “Which means that there are 50% of retirees who receive less and 50% who receive more.”
After purchasing power, the issue of health coverage for retirees is also on the table. Several witnesses note that “more and more retirees can no longer seek treatment for lack of sufficient financial means”.
“Retirees have paid a heavy price with the pandemic, adds the spokesperson for the USR CGT. With all the deaths observed in nursing homes but also at home. We are asking the government to hire staff by paying them at the level where it should be, but the answers are below everything, it is lamentable. We are finally asking for a real law on autonomy, so that the retiree is really supported by the social. “
Not fooled in the wind to want that blows on the public service, Hubert Dandine denounces its failings: “We defend the public service, we realize that the local public services, in particular the hospital, are gradually disappearing. receipt means that the public service is given to the private. The result is that everyone loses. “