パリはネズミの「オープンバー」年金改革スト、ごみ収集停止に衛生懸念

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス政府の年金制度改革に抗議するストライキで運休していた鉄道はようやく運転を再開しそうだが、改革への反感がくすぶる中、首都パリではごみ収集作業員らのストによる影響が出始めている。（写真は年金制度改革に反対するストライキで、ごみの収集が停止している仏パリの路上）
　ストの影響でこの１０日間、パリのごみを処理している焼却施設７か所のうち６か所が稼働を停止。いくつかの地域では路上のごみ箱があふれ通行を妨げるほどになっている。
　近年、パリの公園ではネズミが大量発生し、当局は対応を迫られている。そうした中、ごみがあふれた市街では公衆衛生上の懸念が持ち上がり、多くのパリ市民が不満を訴えている。
　高級住宅地として知られるパリ１６区のある住民はＡＦＰの取材に対し、「ストライキ、ストライキ、ストライキ…これでは住んでいられない！」と述べ、「心配なのは、小さなネズミがやすやすと道路に出てくることだ。まるで（ネズミの）オープンバーみたい！」と嘆いた。
　南部の港町マルセイユでも、労働者らが１０日にわたってごみ処理施設を封鎖。路上に約３０００トンのごみが放置されているという。市当局は労組などに対し、最低限のごみ収集を行うよう要請。住民には路上に直接ごみを捨てないよう呼び掛けた。
　年金制度の一本化を進めているエマニュエル・マクロン政権は、公共部門の職員を中心に適用されている早期退職制度の撤廃を目指している。しかし、ごみの収集作業員らは、自分たちの寿命はフランス人の平均よりも７年短いとして、早期退職制度の継続を求めている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/02/05-12:28）

France's trains may be running again but the whiff of discontent over the government's pension reforms still hangs thick in the air as a waste disposal strike begins to bite.
Sidewalks in several parts of Paris have become obstacle courses of overflowing wheelie bins after 10 days of blockades at the city's incineration plants.
Six of seven incinerators used to burn the capital's trash have been brought to a halt by the strike, the agency in charge of the city's household waste said, leaving rubbish going uncollected for days in several areas.
In a city where public parks have battled rodent infestations in recent years, the trash pile-ups have raised public health concerns.
Expressing the frustration of many Parisians, Catherine Lemoine, a resident of the chic 16th district, told AFP: It's the strike after strike after strike that makes it a bit... unliveable!
And what's worrying is to see little rats running into the streets far more easily. It's an open bar!
April Wood, an American tourist who was visiting the sights in Paris's Left Bank with her husband Andy, also expressed disgust.
I think it is a deterrent as a tourist to have to witness it, she said.
In the southern port city of Marseille, where workers have been blocking waste-sorting centres for the past 10 days, some 3,000 tonnes of garbage have piled up in the streets, according to local authorities.
The city has required unions to provide a minimum level of service and placed garbage tips out for residents to stop them dumping their trash directly on the street.
Waste collectors are up in arms over the government's plans to fuse 42 different pension schemes -- including the early retirement plans enjoyed by train drivers, Paris Opera employees and several other groups -- into a single points-based system.
Train drivers last month suspended their strike after 47 straight days of disruptions to the Paris metro and inter-city trains that caused travel misery for millions.
President Emmanuel Macron's government argues that its reforms are necessary to make the pension system, one of the most generous in Europe, fairer for all and more sustainable.
Critics say it will force most French people to work longer for reduced payouts.
Garbage collectors argue that they should continue to be allowed to stop work early because their life expectancy is seven years less than for the average French person.
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