Posted Apr 5, 2023, 7:27 PMUpdated on Apr 5, 2023 at 8:11 PM
The essentials had been set the day before, during a meeting at the CFDT with a leitmotif: displaying the strength of their unity. The arrival in the team of Sophie Binet, the new general secretary of the CGT, did not change the situation, the inter-union even displayed itself more united than ever for its first meeting with the executive since December.
This Wednesday, April 5 in the morning, the leaders of the eight unions met at the Café du Musée, next to the Rodin Museum. They then took, under the sun, the way to Matignon to meet Elisabeth Borne.
The latter was surrounded by three ministers, but she was the only one to speak on the government side. On the other hand, there is no question on the side of the employee organizations of being satisfied with a single speech on behalf of the inter-union. After an introductory remark by the head of government, everyone went there with their message. With always the same question in conclusion: “Madam Prime Minister, are you ready to withdraw this reform? “Eight times in a row is a lot … “Those who were strong in the meeting, it was us”, underlines a number one.
“Are you going to withdraw this reform? »
Elisabeth Borne then spoke again but the unions did not let her go to the end of her remarks when she wanted to discuss the new phase that the government wants to initiate after the promulgation of the law.
Taking advantage of a breath in his remarks, the leader of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, interrupted him on behalf of all the unions: “Are you ready to withdraw [votre réforme] ? I’m sorry but you’re not answering the question. “There are differences and it is a moment of great tension”, he continued, concluding: “if it is not, the meeting is over”. “The only way out is withdrawal,” said Sophie Binet in substance. All the union leaders then left the room, sealing the “failure” of the meeting.
Incendiary statements
“We refuse to turn the page and open, as the government proposes, other sequences of consultation on issues as diverse as full employment or the sharing of wealth”, “the time has not come!” declared in the process on the steps of Matignon Cyril Chabanier, the general secretary of the CFTC, reading a joint declaration before each union leader takes the floor.
The event – and following it the controversial statements of Emmanuel Macron’s entourage from China – could provide fuel for the mobilization, after the decline observed on Tuesday March 28. In any case, this is what the organizations of employees who have called for an eleventh mobilization against the pension reform this Thursday hope. On Wednesday, CGT activists unrolled a banner from the top of the Arc de Triomphe stating that “64 years old is no! »