Macron accused of displaying ‘disregard’ for French working class

French president Emmanuel Macron has been accused of treating members of the French working class with contempt. Macron, 37, stepped on the toes of staff of a threatened factory “GM&S car parts” fighting hard for their jobs saying they should get another job instead of “stirring up shit”.

• The bone of contention

According to The Local, Macron said this while on a visit to a training centre in the Creuse department of central France. When told that another local factory, located 150 kilometres away from the GM&S plant, was looking to hire workers, he responded saying, “There are some who’d be better off seeing if they could get a job there rather than “stirring up shit”.”

As Macron spoke, some of the GM&S workers gathered outside in protest, leading to a brawl with riot police. The workers had also started destroying the machinery in the factory, demonstrating their anger at carmakers Renault and Peugeot who they accused of blocking a take over of their factory and deliberately cutting orders.

• Criticism across board

Macron, who has been dubbed “the president of the rich” for pushing through tax cuts for France’s most wealthy, has been repeatedly labeled an offender when it comes to showing “contempt” for working classes.

Adrien Quatennens, a lawmaker of the hard-left France Unbowed party said the 39-year-old President and former investment banker “doesn’t know what it means to look for work”.

The socialist party equally said in a tweet, “Macron does it again”, warning the President to “watch his language and respect the French people”.

• His previous offences

Recently, Macron sparked fierce street protesters when he vowed he would not yield to the “lazy” in his push for new labour reforms.

The former economy minister under Hollande’s administration had drawn criticism for once telling a man who had innocently commented on his nicely tailored suit that the best way to afford his own suit was to work.

He was also widely panned for a statement he uttered during the opening of a new start-up hub in a converted railway depot, where he said, “A station is a place where we meet people who succeed and people who are nothing.”

• Official defense and the unlikely ploy

In the defense of his boss, government spokesman Christophe Castaner said on Thursday, “A president should be able… to use the words that we all use all the time.”

Political analyst for BFM TV, Christophe Barbier said, “Macron is not an idiot. If he did it once he would correct himself… but if he does it repeatedly it’s because he has a political objective”, insisting that Macron’s repeated offending is all part of a political strategy to appeal to the right and create a division with the far left led by Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail