French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government has survived two no-confidence votes at the lower house of parliament over his party's decision to press through a controversial pension reform without lawmakers' vote.

The victory on Tuesday night means the pension reform bill automatically passed its first reading at the National Assembly and moves to the upper house.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe decided last Saturday to use a special clause in the Constitution to cut short the debate and force into executive decree its reform plan to overhaul the current pension system of 42 separate regimes. Two no-confidence motions were introduced by the opposition against the government.

On Tuesday night, the motion called by the conservatives won 148 votes while that by the far-left "Unbowed France" party won 91 votes, both short of the simple majority of 289 votes -- an unsurprising result as the ruling "Republic on the Move" party now holds 291 of 577 seats at the National Assembly.

Now at the Senate, the upper house, the pension reform bill will face hot debates, before going back to the National Assembly.

If passed, the reform will be phased in over the coming years for people born since 1975. Under the new system, separate regimes will be replaced by a point-based single system. Every hour worked will earn pension rights, which will benefit gig economy workers who often do not earn enough to lock in pension rights under the current system.

It also means the end of a specific regime for workers of public transport companies RATP and SNCF, which allows train drivers and other staff who work underground to retire at 52 -- a decade earlier than the legal retirement age for a full public pension.

Widely considered a taboo, pension reform has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the country's streets in December and January.

Despite the government's concessions, unions are planning a new wave of strike and protests on March 31.