On Thursday night, French senators voted to raise the legal retirement age from 62 up to 64. It was a boost to President Macron’s controversial plans for pension reform, which have been sparking protests across the nation.

Dominated by the conservative Les Republicains party, 201 members of the Senate voted for the  flagship article 7 of the reform package, dealing with raising the retirement age, while 115 voted against it.

It is expected that later this week the upper house will approve the remaining articles of the reform bill. At that point, having been approved by the upper house, it will be submitted to a mediation committee, where lawmakers from both the Senate and the the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, will iron out any differences.

The National Assembly has not even been able to discuss the article 7 provision in the course of its 15 day debate due to a cacophony of insults and jeers.

Advocates of the bill hope the pension changes will pass through parliament by the end of March. However, lacking an outright majority in the National Assembly, Macron will need to gain the support of several dozen conservative lawmakers, or invoke constitutional powers to bypass parliament entirely.

On Thursday, as strikes and protests are expected to enter a third consecutive day, train and air travel is expected to be disrupted as garbage collection in the cities becomes spotty. On Wednesday, workers from several sectors, from oil refineries to railways, continued to strike, disrupting services.

The protests began on Tuesday, after record numbers of protestors hit the streets as part of a nationwide day of industrial action.

The next nationwide day of strikes and protests is scheduled for Saturday.