Few of them pull back the curtain of their shop to join the demonstrations against the pension reform. But many traders think no less. “Their DNA is not to take to the streets, but they are not against the unions because they themselves have grievances about pensions”, explains Francis Palombi, president of the Confederation of French traders (CDF) to the AFP.
The reform sought by the government provides for a gradual decline in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 in 2030. It also increases the contribution period to benefit from a full pension: from forty-two today to forty-three years in 2027. A prospect that seems difficult to many traders. Even before the reform, many of them were already doubtful of being able to complete their professional life, as evidenced by a Dares study released in early March. According to this, in 2019, 66% of cashiers and self-service employees, and 45% of store managers, said they did not feel able to do the same job until retirement.
“I have pain in my fingers, I have pain in my back, I am stressed”
This feeling of unsustainability at work in middle age is due to their working environment (noise, dust, etc.) and their working conditions (standing for long hours, carrying heavy loads, etc.). What several of our readers at the end of their career testify to, like Muriel, 57, who has been practicing for forty years: “I feel pain in my fingers, I have back pain, I am stressed by clients. And for some young people, having their hair done by a granny is not tempting! Not being part of the generation that grew up with the Internet, I also experience additional pressure because everything is computerized. As you get older, everything becomes more and more difficult physically and mentally,” she says.
Brigitte, 51, thirty-five of whom have worked in commerce, has also seen her health deteriorate over time: “To always run, I have a knee whose cartilage was completely broken by a work accident. , I suffer from disc disease, due to carrying heavy loads and I have recurrent tendinitis”, explains the one who has been recognized as a disabled worker but still often spends 10 hours standing. The extended hours, Florent, 59 years old and tradesman-craftsman in the field of gates and garage doors, also knows. “Being a merchant-craftsman does not give you the right to any recognition of hardship, requires you to work 70 hours a week, disturbs your sleep, generates stress to ensure the sustainability of the activity…”, he lists.
“I don’t think I can reach my total of quarters”
For his part, Philippe, 64, a primeur at Versailles, says he is still passionate but admits to accusing the blow more than before: “If I go to Rungis, I get up at 2:30 a.m., just like Saturday, which is a big day . The rest of the week, I’m up at 4 o’clock. I feel more tired than a few years ago and recovery is more difficult. Hence my need for a daily nap,” he says. He also has the impression of paying the tribute of his first years of work: “I happened to carry 50 kg sacks of potatoes. Besides, I don’t know of any scoop without back problems. The human body, in the long run, it wears out, ”he notes. So for the past four years, he has been taking two more weeks of vacation, or 6 weeks a year.
Some traders already know that they will not go to the end of their career. Like Brigitte: “I don’t think I can reach my total of terms and then be able to enjoy my retirement,” she says disillusioned. Florent, he fumes. “I will have to work 3 and a half more years. I don’t know how I will find the courage. I am bitter; I supported Emmanuel Macron in 2017 because I thought he understood the difficulty of being independent. But politicians don’t know the reality of our job. He hopes that the sale of his business will allow him to live decently afterwards. Like him, the merchants who own their business sell it at the end of their career to inflate their low pensions. But while they sold for “35 to 40% of turnover at one time, their price has now fallen to 15-20%”, says Francis Palombi.
“The older we get, the more we are asked to do”
Muriel, she can’t bring herself to work any longer: “Retiring half-broken after all these years contributed, no thank you. The older we get, the more we are asked, when it should be the opposite, ”she fumes.
Philippe, who will soon be retiring, worries more for his colleagues than for himself: “To push some to work until the age of 64 when they have exercised a physical profession, it is really forcing them to draw on their reservations. »