Inflation, energy crisis, worries about pensions and unemployment insurance: the reasons for social anger abound in this return to school, pushing the main unions to meet on Monday September 5, before the organization on September 29 of a day of strike and demonstration at the call of some of them. The five representative unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC) as well as Solidaires, FSU, Unsa and youth organizations will meet at the CFDT headquarters at the end of the day. Two previous inter-unions of this type took place on July 11 at the headquarters of FO and on June 27 at the headquarters of the CGT.
A new format since 2017, according to Céline Verzeletti, confederal leader of the CGT, who underlines the particular challenges of this return to school, marked by inflation, the energy crisis, the “democratic crisis”, public services in difficulty: “given the situation which is extremely serious, (…) we are not taking this return to school like the others, ”she explains.
In mid-July, the inter-union published a joint text making wages the “priority subject”, while this question has fueled strong conflict in companies since the beginning of the year. “It hadn’t happened for ten years. When all the unions write, I think it’s worth clearing your ears, ”said the number one of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, on BFMTV at the end of August. Asked about Monday’s meeting, the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, estimated in The world that it was “important for employee organizations to exchange with each other, beyond their differences in terms of strategy”.
The CGT in the street, without the CFDT
One of the topics on the agenda for Monday’s meeting will be the National Council for Refoundation, which the executive will launch Thursday in Marcoussis (Essonne). If the CFDT intends to participate in this initiative which responds to its wish for a more sustained dialogue between the social partners and the government, this will not a priori be the case for the CGT. “We don’t want to participate in a masquerade of dialogue or exchange”, explains Céline Verzeletti. The confederal office of the CGT will propose Wednesday to the executive committee of the central to boycott the meeting.
The two main French unions will not find themselves in the streets on September 29 either, the CFDT not intending to participate in this day of strike and interprofessional demonstration to which the CGT, Solidaires and the FSU are calling. “Who is going to believe that it is because you are all going to demonstrate together in Paris that this will settle the question? [des salaires] ? It is company by company, professional branch by professional branch that we must act, ”said Laurent Berger on Friday on franceinfo.
Unsa, which had joined forces with those of the CGT during the demonstrations of March 17 and May 1, will not be part of this time, according to its secretary general Laurent Escure. FO reserves its response for the moment.
A march of the entire left in mid-October?
The CGT also finds itself relatively isolated, with Solidaire and the FSU, on its participation in a common front of “progressive” forces uniting left-wing parties, unions and associations such as Attac or Oxfam. Signatories of a joint press release on August 28, these organizations will demonstrate together on September 29, and are planning a joint initiative on a Saturday in October.
On August 27 on TF1, the leader of rebellious France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, gave “an appointment to everyone in mid-October” for a “march that will allow us to enter into confrontation” with the policy of Emmanuel Macron. Premature announcement according to the unions, which are primarily attached to the success of September 29, and do not want to give the impression of being in the wheel of politics. A new meeting of these organizations is scheduled for September 12.