“Some no longer heat themselves and only have one meal a day”: retirees mobilize in Millau

A motion of censure which is perhaps timely. This Tuesday morning, around sixty retirees went to the office of Jean-François Rousset, deputy for the 3rd constituency of Aveyron. Too little for Christian Gazagne, retired hospital worker and union member at Solidaires. “I wish there were three times more of us”he laments at the end of the gathering.

For Christian Barbut, also a hospital retiree and union member at Solidaires, the latest political developments would have resigned some people to come and make their voices heard. And for good reason, “if the motion of censure passes, government announcements concerning pensions are no longer relevant”explains the former special educator.

“Nothing is certain”

There is no reason to give up, however, since “nothing is certain”, says a former nurse who also came to the Mandarous this Tuesday morning. “Since Macron was elected, inequalities have been growing. The poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer, protests Christian Barbut behind his microphone. It's a modest mobilization, but we hope that the unions' demands will finally be heard.”

Necessary demands in a tense economic context throughout France where more than one in two retirees receive less than 1,200 euros in pension per month. For Martine Perez, former saleswoman and regional communist elected official for three terms, it was necessary to come and pound the streets this Tuesday morning under the banner of the CGT where she is a union member.

“She is in poverty”

“My 92-year-old parents are in an EHPAD and they have a small pensionshe confides. Costs have increased by 6% while pensions have not kept up. With my brother we cover our parents' EHPAD costs, I have to compromise. It’s not normal that our elders are in this situation.”

At his side, a retiree who came with her shopping cart to sign the petition. “If we don’t shout, who will?” The situation, for her, is alarming. “She is in misery, relate Martine Perez. Some people no longer even heat themselves and only eat one meal a day. We take it upon ourselves.”

While waiting to know if the motion of censure will pass – and thus bring down the government – ​​the demonstrators joined the Ruthenian inter-union in front of the prefecture in the afternoon to continue to make their voices heard, in greater numbers.