France’s new Socialist Party government has made a move to partially lower the retirement age from 62 to 60.

With the new rules, those who started working before age 19 will be able to collect a full pension at age 60.   The previous right-wing government raised the retirement age from 60 to 62 in 2010.

While it’s not as good as before, at least it’s a partial victory for older workers.

Meanwhile here in Canada, Harper plans to defacto raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 by delaying people’s eligibility to collect the Old Age Security (OAS) pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

If you were born after February 1, 1962 it’s two more years at your shitty job.   If you were born between April 1, 1958 and January 31, 1962 you’ll be working anywhere from an extra month to an extra twenty three months before you’ll get your OAS pension.

The lesson to be learned from France?   Don’t take crap from your government.