The exchange must be organized “around the subjects on which we agree”. On Public Sénat, Franck Riester set the tone for the meeting that awaits Elisabeth Borne and the unions at the start of next week. No place for the debate of ideas or negotiation, and honor to the texts which go in the direction of the government. The Minister in charge of relations with Parliament, like François Bayrou, was very clear: the 64 years, “it is the heart of the reform”, and it is non-negotiable. Except that in the other camp, widely mobilized against the pension reform, the intentions are very different.
“For us, the agenda will be on the 64 years”, announces bluntly Pascale Coton, vice-president of the CFTC in charge of pensions, to 20 Minutes. Elisabeth Borne “is not going to kick the unions out of her office if we put the subject on the table”, she believes. But the meeting could be cut short because of this subject, if we are to believe Laurent Berger. “If they tell me” you can’t talk about it “(…) they will leave the room or we will leave”, launched the number 1 of the CFDT on France info.
Two very different agendas
So, the retirement age, on the menu or not? “The question will be addressed”, admits the deputy Renaissance Mathieu Lefèvre, questioned by 20 Minutes. “We can continue to discuss it”, but the text will not be changed. For the majority camp, “we cannot ignore the democratic path”, and now the future of the text is in the hands of the Constitutional Council. However, the government has other subjects to put on the table.
In the order of the priority subjects, “the sharing of value”, “organize the ends of careers” and “upgrade the branches under the Smic”, list Mathieu Lefèvre. So many points that the CFTC says it is ready to address, but after the retreats. “If Elisabeth Borne listens to our proposals” on the starting age, “it unlocks everything”, says Pascale Coton. “What is certain is that we will discuss pensions,” said Laurent Berger. “And work because that goes with it, but (above all) pensions! »
“The common thread is improving workers’ rights”
The stakes are high for the presidential majority, faced with a union front determined to continue the mobilization. After refusing to receive the unions in January, Emmanuel Macron had criticized the “lack of proposals” from employee organizations during his appearance at 13 Hours of TF1 and France 2, the day before a record demonstration. “There was no refusal”, answers Mathieu Lefèvre, who sweeps away the current tensions by focusing on “the means to renew the dialogue”.
“There will be a post-pension reform”, he wants to remember, in which “social organizations will have a major role to play”. “The red thread is to improve the rights of workers, we cannot do it without them”, insists the deputy of Val-de-Marne. On the question of sharing value in business, the elected Renaissance also wants to “organize the balance of power with employers”. “The door will always be open to unions,” he maintains.
It remains to be seen who will be present. The government has rejected the idea of mediation, put forward by Laurent Berger. “If mediation is synonymous with suspension of the project, it is not possible given the urgency” to carry out the reform, justifies Mathieu Lefèvre. On the side of the unions, the CFDT and the CFTC have therefore confirmed their participation. But not sure that the inter-union arrives complete and united, the fault of a CGT entangled in a stormy congress. “We can’t move forward without them, it can’t be done,” says Pascale Coton, who wants to wait for the new management to define “a common strategy”.
In the radius of the unknowns, it is necessary to add the date, not fixed. So many elements that leave hanging over this meeting the risk of disappointment, warns the secretary general of Unsa, Laurent Escure, with an effect that would be “disastrous” and a day of the 6th which “would take another turn”. For Elisabeth Borne, it’s starting to look like the meeting of all the dangers.