French artists launch satirical protest encouraging workers to show up late

Department of Research, Studies and International News 29-04-2025

In France, reforms to the pension system have long been a source of tension and unrest. From strikes to mass demonstrations, proposed changes have repeatedly drawn fierce resistance. In 2023, President Emmanuel Macron intensified that legacy by pushing through a deeply unpopular reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, despite significant public outcry and massive street protests.

Now, in a novel and humorous twist, a group of French artists is offering an unconventional form of dissent: showing up late to work. The initiative, launched by a trio calling themselves the Zélé collective, is a symbolic protest aimed at reclaiming what they see as stolen years of retirement.

The campaign encourages French employees to compensate for the additional two years of work by arriving late to their jobs. Ahead of May Day, France’s traditional celebration of workers’ rights, the group distributed flyers across Paris and created an online tool that calculates how many minutes late individuals should be based on their age and the time remaining until retirement.

Charles-Antoine De Sousa, a 35-year-old creative director and one of the campaign’s architects, describes the initiative as an “absurd but meaningful” response to the pension changes. “The serious protests didn’t yield results. This is our way of expressing discontent while injecting some humor into the conversation,” he said.

Alongside fellow artists Simon Lamasa and Marc Horgues, both also in their mid-thirties, De Sousa developed a satirical video featuring an AI-generated “Minister of Late Arrivals.” The character delivers an official-sounding announcement set to the French national anthem, with a sorrowful Marianne, the symbolic figurehead of the Republic, adding a visual layer of irony.

The message, “The pension reform asks you to work more? Then reclaim your time by arriving late,” is accompanied by the link to the late-arrival calculator. While the suggestion is obviously tongue-in-cheek, it taps into a deeper frustration among French workers, particularly those of younger generations who feel increasingly burdened by shifting retirement expectations.

De Sousa acknowledges that, compared to many European nations, France’s retirement benefits remain relatively generous. Nevertheless, he stresses the importance of maintaining the country’s revered work-life balance, which many fear is slipping away. “We may be privileged in some ways, but expectations keep growing. If we don’t push back, we’ll find ourselves working into our late sixties like in other countries,” he warned.

Having started part-time jobs as a teenager and entering the workforce full-time at 21, De Sousa says he represents a generation that now feels betrayed by shifting goalposts. “We thought we were closer to retirement than we actually are. And now we’re told we’ll get less even though we’re working more.”

France’s pension system, often described as a pillar of its social model, operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, with contributions from the current workforce funding the pensions of retirees. It remains one of the costlier models in Europe, but also one of the most generous. Employees contribute significantly over their careers in return for relatively high pension payouts, calculated from their top 25 earning years and capped at around €1,932 gross per month.

Over the past four decades, virtually every French president has attempted to modify this system, often to no avail. Macron’s successful 2023 reform came at the cost of national unity, with trade unions across the political spectrum joining forces in opposition. The controversial law was passed using Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, allowing the government to bypass parliamentary approval, a move seen by many as undemocratic and inflammatory.

Protests climaxed in March 2023, with an estimated 1.28 million people taking to the streets in one of the largest demonstrations in recent history. Despite such efforts, the law held, and the retirement age officially increased.

De Sousa concedes that the late-arrival protest is unlikely to reverse the decision. “We know the chances of going back to retirement at 62 are slim,” he admits. “But this campaign reflects a desire that millions of us still hold. Maybe if they listen again one day, we can start to dream again.”

In the meantime, the Zélé collective’s campaign has sparked conversations around resistance, creativity, and the evolving nature of protest in a digital age. By combining satire, technology, and social commentary, the group offers a fresh lens through which to examine France’s ongoing pension debate, and a cheeky reminder that even in frustration, the French spirit of rebellion is alive and well.