French unions say pension meeting with PM a 'failure'

French unions Wednesday said a last-ditch meeting with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne seeking to ease tensions over a divisive pension reform was a "failure" after she refused to revoke the changes.

President Emmanuel Macron is facing the biggest challenge of his second term over his flagship pension overhaul, which includes hiking the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.

Unrest erupted across the country after Borne on March 16 invoked a controversial executive order to ram the bill through parliament without a vote despite months of mass protests against it.

Unions warned ahead of Wednesday's meeting with Borne that they would storm out if she refused to discuss going back on a minimum retirement age of 64.

"It's clearly a failure when the prime minister won't even allow a way in to that discussion," said Cyril Chabanier, speaking on behalf of the country's eight main unions after barely an hour-long meeting.

"We again told the prime minister that the only democratic outcome could be the text's withdrawal. The prime minister replied that she wished to maintain the text, a grave decision," he added.

He and other union heads called for French people to take to the streets and strike en masse on Thursday during an 11th day of coordinated nationwide action against the bill.

© Agence France-Presse