Several unions “reassured” by Emmanuel Macron on the calendar of retirements and the future National Council for Refoundation
Some union leaders said on Friday “reassured”, at the end of their lunch with Emmanuel Macron, in particular concerning the consultation on the pension reform, which should not begin before the start of the school year, and the role of the future National Council for Refoundation (CNR). About pensions “we felt that there was no desire to rush on his part”, said Laurent Berger (CFDT) on leaving the Elysée, after a lunch of about two hours with the President of the Republic. The subject “deserves a lot of work, and it will probably be after the summer rather than before”he added. “It will be rather at the start of the school year”added Cyril Chabanier (CFTC), welcoming that the unions have “heard by the president”.
The unions had repeated in recent days that they would not participate in any consultation during the summer. “The workers, it is not their emergency”, Laurent Berger repeated again on Friday. On Thursday, Mr. Macron had made it known that he wanted to launch this project this summer in order to be able to implement it in the summer of 2023. On the background of the reform, the unions “were very clear” about their refusal to raise the legal age to 65, added Mr. Berger.
This is Mr Macron’s first meeting with union leaders since his re-election as he promised a “new method” of governance for its second five-year term. The Elysée welcomed at the end of the meeting a “very constructive atmosphere”noting that the exchange had focused on “many subjects” including purchasing power, training, pensions and the employment of seniors. The Head of State is due to receive employers’ officials on Tuesday. The meeting was however boycotted by the leader of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, who did not want to participate in “a country lunch” two days before the legislative elections.
The unions present also said they were reassured about the National Council for Refoundation, whose president announced the launch after the legislative elections of June 12 and 19. Bringing together political, economic, social and associative forces as well as elected representatives of the territories and citizens drawn by lot, this council will have to consider the five objectives carried by Mr. Macron during his campaign: “independence (industrial, military, food, etc.), full employment, carbon neutrality, public services for equal opportunities and democratic rebirth with institutional reform”he had said.
“The CNR told us that it would be a method, not an additional thing. It reassures us”Mr. Berger reported. “It will not be a new institution. The CNR will coordinate, plan, make the different actors work together. Its members will be different depending on the subjects”, according to Mr. Chabanier. The first subject of the CNR will be purchasing power. It will therefore be united ” fast enough “ after the elections so that the social partners make their proposals so that Parliament can vote on measures as early as July, he added. “The CNR will continue to work after the summer on other subjects, such as pensions”, added Mr. Chabanier. More generally, François Hommeril (CFE-CGC) said he was satisfied with the “willingness of the president to involve the trade unions a little more in the observation, to share the data, to contribute”.
“During the first five-year term, there was a real demand for verticality. The announcement that is made today is: we want to get out of this, we want to build policies more in consultation”summed up Mr. Berger. “We will sometimes not agree, it’s obvious, but when we are in the defense of workers, when we want to improve their concrete situation, we say: chick, we go there”, he pleaded. Only the new secretary general of FO, Frédéric Souillot, did not speak at the exit. In a press release, his union explains “to have recalled its demands and its priorities”in particular on wages, and considers that “outlines, composition and objectives” of the CNR “remain particularly vague”.