Elisabeth Borne receives the unions at Matignon, Wednesday April 5, in a gesture “appeasement” to try to get out of the pension crisis on the eve of an eleventh day of demonstrations and strikes against the reform. The organizations are calling together for the ” withdrawal “ reform, on which the government has been inflexible, which could shorten the meeting which started shortly after 10 a.m.
The Prime Minister promised that she would be “listening to all subjects” that the unions would like to address during this meeting which will begin at 10 a.m. at Matignon, despite “points of disagreement” on the pension reform, in particular the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
If the executive refuses to talk about the 64 years, ” we will leave “warned the leader of the CFDT, Laurent Berger. “It can take five minutes”abounded the new boss of the CGT, Sophie Binet. “Tomorrow, the government which wants to turn the page will see that we do not want to turn the page”told Agence France-Presse a union leader, after a meeting on Tuesday of the inter-union in the presence of Sophie Binet. “The inter-union is very united, welded. It’s reassuring, nothing has changed.” since the replacement of Philippe Martinez at the head of the CGT, argued this official.
« Impasse »
A union source sweeps away the recent disagreements between the CFDT, which is calling for “withdraw or suspend” the text, and the CGT, which wants the ” withdrawal “ pure and simple : “in reality, talking about suspension is like for the CPE [contrat première embauche]it is not to apply”.
In addition to the withdrawal, the CFDT should demand a social conference on work and pensions, according to its national secretary Yvan Ricordeau. “We are at an impasse” car “as long as there is no withdrawal (…) we will not move on”abounded the patron saint of environmentalists, Marine Tondelier, Tuesday after a meeting with Elisabeth Borne, who consults all over the place for “expand the majority” and build a government program for the coming months. “And when you’re at an impasse, you have to turn around”added the leader of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, who found the Prime Minister “poor” solutions to get out of the crisis.
This is the first time that the Prime Minister has received the trade unions since the presentation on January 10 of the reform. This generated an almost weekly unprecedented mobilization of up to 1.3 million people in the street on March 7 (according to the authorities), more than in 1995 or 2010. And these demonstrations experienced a resurgence of tensions after the adoption without a vote of the reform in Parliament, via 49.3. The unions had already asked, in vain, to be received by Emmanuel Macron. Elisabeth Borne then sent them back to the Ministry of Labor.
In addition to the inter-union, the Prime Minister will also receive at the end of the afternoon the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, that of the General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, François Asselin, and Jean-Christophe Repon of the Union local businesses (U2P). Finally, she will meet with the main representatives of the right – Éric Ciotti, Olivier Marleix and Bruno Retailleau, Stéphane Séjourné.
“Worried about the level of tension”
On the government side, the wish is to “negotiate something else” that pensions, according to a minister, “worried about the level of tension”, pending the decision of the Constitutional Council on Monday. Elisabeth Borne considers that there is “lots to talk about” on “the quality of life at work, on the end of career, on the prevention of arduousness”.
The executive is also counting on the fatigue of the demonstrators as the spring break begins on April 8. “The way things happened on Tuesday [28 mars] is rather positive: a decline in mobilization, unions that accept to be received”estimated a Renaissance deputy after the tenth day of mobilization.
Conversely, the unions hear on Thursday “show that mobilization is still powerful”. The leader of the CFDT Laurent Berger hopes Monday in The Obs that the Constitutional Council « censor la loi ». Car “if there is censorship of particular points such as the senior index, hardship at work, etc., but not of 64 years, then that will in no way respond to the ongoing social conflict”, according to him. The Constitutional Council will make its decision on April 14. Unions like the left are also counting on the validation by the High Court of the referendum of shared initiative (RIP) on the reform.