Across Europe, frustration over soaring executive pay and government austerity has been boiling over into strikes, protests, and even shareholder revolts.
By September 2025, the unrest has taken on a broad scale, fueled by widening pay gaps and deeper economic inequality.
The mix of budget cuts in the public sector and rising executive compensation has only added to the anger, especially in France, where unions are gearing up for nationwide strikes and demonstrations against new cuts set to roll out later this month.
Europe’s workers vs Executive pay
Wages aren’t going up, the cost of living keeps climbing, and yet the top executives at big European companies are raking in more than ever.
No wonder people are angry as workers feel the squeeze, investors notice the gap, and it just looks unfair.
A lot of the current labor unrest seems to be coming from this frustration over CEO pay, which isn’t too different from what happened in the US a few years back, when workers were protesting the same kind of outrageous executive bonuses.
In France, unions are calling for nationwide strikes on September 18 to push back against Prime Minister François Bayrou’s budget plans, which include cutting public holidays and freezing wage hikes.
The government says these moves are needed to tackle rising public debt and meet EU rules, but workers aren’t buying it. Unions argue the cuts hit ordinary people hard while executives and boards keep handing themselves big paychecks.
The complaints aren’t just about France as they reflect a wider frustration across Europe, where more and more of the economic pie seems to go to the top while regular workers see little.
Unions and worker reps are pushing for fairer pay structures and more transparency on executive pay, trying to rein in what many see as an unfair gap, especially when budgets are being tightened for everyone else.
Rising costs fuel Labor and investor friction
The strike called by France’s big unions isn’t happening in isolation as it is part of a wider wave of worker activism, with more industrial actions expected in energy, transport, and other public sectors.
EDF, the country’s main electricity provider, kicked off a three-day strike on September 1 to protest the impact of budget cuts, showing just how tense things are getting in essential services.
All of this comes at a politically tricky moment. The French government faces a confidence vote on September 8, and Bayrou’s administration is under pressure from opposition parties who see the austerity plans as both socially and economically harmful.
Beyond France, investors and shareholder activists across Europe are increasingly pushing back against executive pay they consider excessive or out of step with performance, showing that resistance isn’t just on the streets and is creeping into corporate boards too.
The stakes for Europe’s economies are high. Governments are trying to cut deficits to comply with EU rules, but ongoing social tensions could hurt stability and consumer confidence.
At the same time, companies are stuck trying to reward executives while keeping workers from getting frustrated, all in a climate of rising costs and inflation.
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