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About 20 percent of French teachers were on strike, according to the Education Ministry. Utility workers, postal workers, dock workers, workers at planemaker Airbus and some hospital workers were also planning strikes. The French measure pales in comparison with more drastic changes elsewhere in Europe. Germany, for example, plans to gradually raise its retirement age from 65 to 67, starting in 2012. Labor Minister Eric Woerth says the reform will save nearly euro19 billion ($29.3 billion) in 2018 and should bring the pension system back into the black that year. The reform makes exceptions for people who have had physically tough jobs that took a toll on their health, as well as people who began working young. The reform is scheduled to be instituted progressively and will also stretch out the total number of years people have to work to win full pension payments. The Cabinet is to discuss the proposals in July, and they are expected to go before parliament next autumn.
[Associated
Press;
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