2023-04-30 06:05:04
They were considered dying, here they are reinvigorated. After three and a half months of fierce struggle against the pension reform, the unions remain omnipresent in the public space and continue to regulate the social life of the country, with very broad support from the population. Even though the law raising the legal retirement age to 64 has been enacted, their fight “is not finished”. For the thirteenth time, they are calling to take to the streets to denounce this age measure, on the occasion of the 1is-May.
The eight main employee organizations orchestrate, all together and under the same banner, the mobilization on International Workers’ Day, which had not happened since 2009. With the help of five youth defense movements, they plan parades and rallies in around 300 different places, according to Simon Duteil, co-delegate general of Solidaires.
In Paris, the procession will start from the Place de la République to go to the Place de la Nation. The crowd will be joined by representatives of international structures (such as the European Trade Union Confederation) and activists from several countries (South Korea, United States, Colombia, India, etc.). The goal is to make a show of force “exceptional and popular”which consolidates the revival seen since mid-January.
“I believe that trade unionism emerges as a winner from this period”confided, on April 19, Laurent Berger, the general secretary of the CFDT, in an interview with Monde. Her counterpart from the CGT, Sophie Binet, obviously abounds in the same direction: for her, the challenge of retirement at 64 reminded “the central role” workers’ organizations. “While Emmanuel Macron constantly seeks to marginalize us, we have been able to demonstrate our importance in defending our social model”she points out.
“Upsurge in Membership”
“The unions have shown that they are responsible and republican, and today this plays in their favorcompletes Frédéric Souillot, the number one of FO. In our confederation, we see this through the upsurge in membership: requests made online since the end of December 2022 have increased fivefold if we refer to the same period last year. » The other centers are also seeing this dynamic, with, for example, 30,000 more cards over the past four months, at the CFDT as well as at the CGT, according to official indications. “Participation in professional elections is also affected, with more employees who voted in private companies during the first quarter”adds Mr. Souillot.
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