>

I used to think it was silly for the French to halt the whole country whenever something inconvenient happens. Now I envy them for being right.
I'm sort of curious: How do the French citizenry organize these general strikes? It happens often enough that there must be some streamlined way of doing it and getting the word out. >

Unions are big in France >

The union membership rate in France is below 10%, compared to e.g. 50-90% in Nordic countries. It's low by European standards, and even lower than the US. >

That's true, however the rate is higher for the public instances (education, transport, administration...) and people tend to follow the strikes even if they aren't registered in a union. >

I admire how the French actually show up and fight for things rather than just letting the government and corporations run roughshod over them all the time. >

The rest of us should be studying and taking notes >

Amazon workers: Workers rights? What's that? >

As soon as they learn the answer and share it, they become an ex-Amazon worker. >

Cries in dutch our retirement age is 67 currently. Every few years it gets higher >

France has a serious demographics problem, and are tied for the most generous retirement conditions among EU countries. >

How do they expect this stuff to be paid for? I'm living in Germany and I will probably drop dead before I see my pension and I don't expect to have much to show for even if I reach pension age... but I understand the problem so I understandably (and selfishly) wished I could opt out of the pension system altogether and pay a private pension or buy ETFs or whatever with my money. >

I am of the opinion that Defined Contribution retirement benefits are superior to Defined Benefits.
The US has a bit of both in a defined beiniftis system from Social Security, and allow for Defined Contributions in 401ks and IRAs. Unfortunately with the recent downturns, I'm only up 5% over my total contribution. >

In germany only self employed individuals can  opt out of the public one... and with the declining birth rates of this country, on the long run that kinda means I'm legally forced into a ponzi scheme.