The pressure continues on the side of the unions. Invited on the set of BFMTV this Friday, the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, repeated his desire to continue the mobilization, while the text of the pension reform is still being examined in the Senate. “We must continue, the ball is in the court of the President of the Republic”, he hammered, while acknowledging that “to carry out a renewable strike is not easy for anyone”, given the context. “Prices are rising, we have to deal with this reality,” he observes.
While some 3.5 million people demonstrated on Tuesday, according to the CGT – 1.28 million for the Ministry of the Interior – for the sixth day of mobilization, the union representative deplored the lack of response from the executive. . “Emmanuel Macron’s silence is a problem. Everyone knows it’s his reform. And when we ask him to be received, he does not answer us ”, lambasted Philippe Martinez.
“It would be very serious to pass this text by a 49.3”
“When millions of people are in the street, when there are strikes and there is nothing opposite. people say to themselves what more do you need to do to be heard ? It is a question,” insists the union representative. What follow-up to the mobilization? Philippe Martinez did not give more details, but he assures that a continuation of the movement would be possible in the event that the text of the law would pass in extremis to the National Assembly. “It would be very serious to pass a text of this importance by a 49.3. This would justify that we continue the movement, ”he insisted.
“We are in a particular situation: there is very strong discontent, there are opinion polls, there are millions of employees in the street. And there is no majority [à l’Assemblée nationale] or in any case it is difficult to find,” recalled the union leader. And to add: “It is our responsibility to alert. The government did not realize the seriousness of the situation. »
The Senate progressed laboriously on Thursday in the examination of the pension reform, after the adoption the day before of the postponement to 64 years of the retirement age, against the backdrop of persistent strikes and growing questions about the existence of a majority in the National Assembly.