BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), an investment giant based in the United States, was the focus of a union action at an office in the center of Paris because the $10 trillion asset manager is active in the private pension fund industry.
Indeed, dozens of trade unionists protesting the pension reform proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron momentarily broke inside the old Centorial building in the Grand Boulevards region of Paris belonging to BlackRock, yelling slogans and lighting off firecrackers, as per a video by French Journalist Clement Lanot on April 6.
The action took place on the eleventh day of strikes and rallies organized by labor unions around the country in opposition to a proposal by the government to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.
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France’s retirement situation
In many European nations, retirees rely at least in part on private pension funds to cover their living expenses in old age. However, in France, retirees’ pensions are funded entirely by the contributions of the working population.
The administration claims reform is essential to the pension fund’s continued financial health.
After roughly half an hour, with the vast atrium filled with bitter smoke from the firecrackers, the protesters departed the building, loudly shouting “On est la” (“we are here”), the favorite cry of the French anti-pension reform protesters.
