This is one of the most sensitive measures of the pension reform project. The Senate began this Saturday the debates on the end of several special regimes, a suppression fought by the left.
Electricians and gas workers, affected by this disappearance, began a renewable strike on Friday, which leads to reductions in electricity production in several nuclear power stations, and some hydropower stations, without causing cuts for customers.
Article 1 of the draft reform provides for the gradual extinction of the special regimes of the electricity and gas industries, the RATP, the Banque de France or the clerks and employees of notaries. This will affect agents recruited from September 2023, who will be affiliated to the common law scheme for old-age insurance.
350 amendments from the left on this subject
The left has tabled some 350 amendments on the subject, which should be on the menu of the Senate all day this Saturday or even Sunday. The environmental group immediately defended, but in vain, a motion to refer the disputed article to committee. “It deserves to be more widely debated” because the staff are well “exposed to factors of hardship”, argued their speaker Raymonde Poncet Monge.
“This is not a new question” and “today the differences compared to the general system are no longer justified” as to working conditions, retorted the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt. The motion was defeated by 251 votes to 91.
A sixth day of mobilization against the reform is organized this Tuesday, March 7 by the eight main French unions, who have said they are ready to “bring France to a halt in all sectors” if the government and Parliament remain “deaf” much to the displeasure of the French.