Garbage crisis, Paris faces invasion of... rats

According to Politico.eu , French politicians are arguing over who is responsible as the garbage collector strike continues to protest pension reform.

A strike by garbage collectors may have led to more rats infesting the streets of Paris. (Photo: CNN)

Bags of rubbish could be seen piled up shoulder-high on the sidewalks of Paris over the weekend – especially in areas with many restaurants – as the city’s garbage collectors have been on strike since March 6 in protest at controversial reforms to the pension system, backed by President Emmanuel Macron.

Under the reform, garbage collectors, as well as other workers, will see their retirement age raised to 64. Meanwhile, garbage collectors were already expecting to retire early at 57-59 due to the heavy, unhealthy work that has been shown to affect their longevity.

As a result, by March 13, there were about 5,600 tons of uncollected waste scattered on the streets of the capital, on the eighth day of the strike - according to the Paris mayor's office.

“It’s terrible, it’s ugly and it smells,” said Mathilde Boyer, 23, who lives in the 15th arrondissement in southern Paris. But despite her concerns about sanitation, Boyer said she sympathized with the trash collectors’ strike effort. “It shows that there are little hands everywhere in Paris, and that their work – and their right to a decent life and a pension – should be respected,” she said.

But people aren't just worried about a few bags of trash, the real problem is that Paris, like most big cities, is overrun with rats.

Uncollected trash in Paris will be a delicious bait to attract rats to rampage. (Photo: CNN)

It is estimated that there are 1.5 to 1.75 rats for every person living in Paris, making the City of Light one of the most rat-infested cities in the world . The French National Academy of Medicine was forced to issue a warning last July about the “threat to human health” posed by rats and the diseases they can transmit to humans.

The issue even sparked a political brawl over the weekend, after prefects of several Paris districts said the strike risked becoming a major public health risk and called on the mayor of Paris, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, to take action.

The row escalated on the evening of March 12 when Transport Minister Clément Beaune, who is aspirant to become mayor of Paris, blamed the mayor's office for the situation.

“No garbage collection on Saturday. The stench and decay,” Beaune wrote on Twitter on the evening of March 12, along with photos of trash strewn across the sidewalks. “This is the umpteenth example of inaction and disregard for Parisians,” he added.

But the statement was met with a backlash from Paris Mayor Hidalgo's office. Deputy Mayor Antoine Guillou hit back: "The corruption that characterizes your vision of social dialogue. If you really care about Parisians and the French, withdraw the unjust pension reform, which has been widely rejected."

In an interview on French television on the morning of March 13, government spokesman Olivier Véran also blamed Mr. Hidalgo, accusing him of supporting the strike. According to the daily Le Parisien, the strike will last at least until March 15, when union representatives will vote to decide whether to continue the strike or not.

But the movement could go on for longer, as unions say they will continue to strike until the government withdraws pension reforms that raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.

With a series of parliamentary votes scheduled for March 15 and 16, the pension reform plan could be formally approved by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Parisians are ready to wait.

The trash “is not a particularly pleasant sight, but it is also the goal of the strike,” said Guillaume Meigniez, 28, a longtime resident of northern Paris.

Meigniez said he wasn't particularly worried about the rats, because they were "pretty much normal" and "they wouldn't start grouping up and attacking people."

But “if rats show up, they can shake things up a little bit,” Meigniez said.

(Source: Tin Tuc Newspaper)

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