“We have no revenge to take on the government”

2023-08-29 05:36:06
CFDT Secretary General Marylise Léon speaks with former Medef President Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux during the Meeting of French Entrepreneurs at the Longchamp racecourse in Paris on August 28, 2023. OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI /MYOP FOR “THE WORLD”

Elected on June 21 at the head of the CFDT, Marylise Léon inherits a central whose troops have been reinforced by the battle against the pension reform. Leaving behind this lost fight, despite a strong mobilization, it calls, alongside seven other unions, for a day of action on October 13 in favor of purchasing power and “against austerity”. In an interview at Monde, she believes that the salary issue “is treated first in companies and in professional branches”. And while the government has decided to spread out the abolition of value added tax for businesses over time, she criticizes the “dogma” of not raising taxes, a « impasse ».

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The intersyndicale calls for mobilization “against austerity” during a day of action Friday, October 13

The intersyndicale announced a day of action on October 13. Is it a revenge, a kind of “return match” after the defeat of the organizations of employees and the defense of youth in the battle against the pension reform?

This is absolutely not the state of mind of the CFDT. We are still as militant and determined to obtain improvements for workers’ rights, but we have no revenge to take on the government. We continue to affirm that the pension reform is unfair, knowing that our privileged interlocutors are the employers. We turn to them as a priority to improve the situation of workers on a daily basis, and it is with them that we must negotiate in order to try to find compromises. The number one concern of private sector employees today revolves around purchasing power issues. This is also true for public servants. We therefore continue our work as trade unionists by answering present on subjects on which we are expected.

Why include this day of October 13 in a campaign decided by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)?

The inter-union had mentioned it in mid-June. We want to rely on this approach by the ETUC, which comes at a time when the rules of economic governance within the European Union are being revised – with in particular the provision according to which the public deficit must not exceed 3% of GDP. In addition, the Member States, including France, are preparing to debate their finance laws for 2024. It is therefore a question of showing that the world of work remains mobilized in a period when the policies carried out are likely to be synonymous with austerity.

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