The French Government has just begun a fresh start this week. dialogue with unions. It’s a touch marked by the distrust and anger generated by the wave of mass union protests that so far this year have failed to stop or shape the unpopular pension reform. Prime minister Elisabeth Borne On Tuesday and this Wednesday he met with the leaders of France’s leading trade unions.
Executive Emmanuel Macron During the intense struggle to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, she had met only once with the heads of workers’ organizations (43 years contributed to her full pension). It was April 5th and that meeting”fault”. It took less than an hour. This time there is a more serious contact. It welcomes each of the union officials by putting them on the agenda separately. There is no agenda consisting of fixed issues in these meetings.
Will they be able to turn the page on the pulse for retirement?
All union leaders conveyed their views to Borne. opposition to reform pensions and they asked him to remove it. A request that has little chance of being heard. The measure was already announced in mid-April and will come into effect gradually from September. Those who oppose the text, however, are sticking to a proposal by the opposition – with a vote scheduled for June 8. remove the increase in the legal retirement age 64 years old. They called for a new nationwide day of strikes and protests for June 6.
However, the Government is faced with such meetings. hope Turn the pension reform page. It’s a difficult target to reach. This controversial measure has not only monopolized public debate in France since the beginning of the year, but also attracted Macron’s popularity. lower levels since the yellow vests revolt. As a matter of fact, union leaders in recent months – the biggest month of the 21st century in the bustling neighboring country – have been wanting to put forward the showdown to put more weight on the centrist Executive’s decisions, but the president has already reminded them. many times he did not want to change his economic policies anchored to the right.
“We can’t go on like before”
“We will not be content with half-measures,” warned Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT, the union with the largest number of members in France. “We talked about us. claims”, it’s basically about wages. “However, we will not accept a negotiating calendar on any issue other than pensions,” said Force Ouvrière president Frédéric Souillot, and asked that “the real room for maneuver should be left to the social actors.”
Sophie Binet, the CGT’s general secretary, was even stronger: “I’ll tell you the country will not go back to normal if they don’t pull back on pension reform.” “Things cannot go on as before. (…) The head of the second union in the neighboring country is over when we could only negotiate commas based on texts from the Government or employers.”
Union officials also warned of the negative consequences of the parties’ disagreement with Macron. prevent parliamentary debate In the draft law to abolish the increase in the minimum retirement age. Given the likelihood that a majority of lawmakers will support this measure, the presidential coalition plans to block discussion of the law in the National Assembly for budgetary reasons. A decision that will make fragile dialogue with unions even more difficult.