Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, and Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT, during the third day of mobilization against the pension reform, in Paris. SARAH MEYSSONNIER / REUTERS
The head of state called from Brussels on the unions not to block the country on the pension reform, counting on their “spirit of responsibility”.
The general secretaries of the CFDT and the CGT, Laurent Berger and Philippe Martinez, strongly replied on Friday to the remarks of Emmanuel Macron calling not to block the country on the pension reform, in turn inviting the government to show “responsibility“. During the night, the Head of State said he was counting on “the spirit of responsibility“trade unions so that their movement against its contested pension reform does not block”the life of the rest of the country».
«That night’s call, I’m sorry to say, it’s anachronistic“, decided on Franceinfo Laurent Berger. “Why are we being called today not to blockade the country? (…) Excuse me, but hell, we are not responsible from the beginning?“, Launched the union official. He recalled that there was no call for a strike in rail transport on Saturday, the first day of the B-zone holidays.Now, I appeal to the government’s responsibility, to take into account this world of work which expresses a deep rejection of the 64-year-old“, he continued, calling, on the eve of a new day of mobilization, to “put the work back on the job“, at the risk if not of a “deep resentment».
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The head of state “likes to talk about pension reform when he is not in France“, noted almost at the same time his counterpart of the CGT Philippe Martinez on Europe 1. “We could return the politeness to him: we are counting on the spirit of responsibility of the President of the Republic and the government so that we are not obliged to amplify the strikes and to have renewable strikes“, he said. “When there is such discontent in the country and we have a spirit of responsibility, well, we listen“, he added.
Laurent Berger has also strongly criticized the way in which the debates take place in parliament. “It would also be good for parliament to become something other than a fairground where we insult each other“, he said, calling for the debate to take place, in particular on article 7 which postpones the legal age from 62 to 64 years.
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«We have to discuss the substance (…). I ask that the parliament do its job to examine the text (…) This article 7 will change the lives of employees“, he underlined, without wanting to incriminate one camp rather than another. He also again invited the employees to demonstrate in large numbers in the “over 250» gatherings all over France. “Exceeding the million demonstrators would be a great success“, he underlined.
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