2023-05-02 14:52:00
« I’m not going to tell stories to the workers, tell them that we’re going to have yet another day of demonstrations that would make the government back down, when it hasn’t moved after 13 days of action “… This is how Laurent Berger, the leader of the CFDT, spoke last night, after a May 1st, bringing together in France more than 2.3 million people according to the CGT and nearly 800,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior. That is more than the previous mobilizations, when many French people were on vacation, the weather was not necessarily clement, and the processions enamelled with violence.
Towards a new day of joint action
Still, this Tuesday morning, carried by this crowd, the eight organizations have therefore decided to put the cover back. And recorded a new date to hammer home their opposition to raising the retirement age, even though the reform was enacted: Tuesday, June 6, i.e. two days before the bill to repeal the reform carried out by the Liot group is not examined in the National Assembly. Even if this parliamentary maneuver has little chance of succeeding, it is a way for the inter-union to signify to those who doubt it that it wants to remain united.
« Admittedly, this reform will be applied, but we have gained a little, we have demonstrated the strength of the union fight, its dignity too… the importance of finding points of convergence, between us… This unity is precious “, explained Laurent Berger again.
Bad news for the government, which has been waiting for months for the centrals to move away, all of them – in particular the two most important, CFDT and CGT in the lead – are seeking as much as possible to coordinate their actions. Even if Laurent Berger and the new leader of the CGT Sophie Binet know each other little, they are both keen to put pressure, by being united, on the executive. ” We don’t agree on everything, but there are subjects where we can move forward together “, summed up Laurent Berger.
The government’s desire to turn the page on pensions
Elisabeth Borne however reiterated, this Tuesday, May 2, during the group meeting of the deputies of her majority, her intention to move on, to turn the page “testing” pension reform, in particular by inviting the centers to discuss other subjects such as the sharing of wealth or the future Full Employment law.
But the game could turn out to be more complex than expected for the government, as the unions want to monetize their presence. The leader of the CFDT, who has become Emmanuel Macron’s first opponent, has made no secret of the fact that the ” bill would be high », that it would be necessary to pay dearly for its return to the negotiating table.
In other words, if we’re going to discuss, it’s not just for the photo, “it will be necessary to agree on the terms of the exchange…”, he assured. Nevertheless, the CFDT has already said that it would accept the Prime Minister’s invitation, while the CGT remains unclear.
Several points of convergence between the unions
Together, the unions began to list their wishes. On many points, they intend to go hand in hand. Inflation obliges, the first will concern wage increases, in particular the revaluation of the minimums of branches.
Today, more than 150 branches are below these minima. ” A pure scandal », for the centers which ask that the salary scales be reviewed quickly. And for good reason, with the successive increases in the Smic, a large part of the wages are crushed.
Also on the menu of their demands, there are better working conditions, and better management of hardship … going well beyond the only professional wear fund provided for by the pension reform.
Another point on which all the unions are ready to step up: the 2017 ordinances which reduced the presence of staff representatives in companies, in particular in the CHSCTs, the occupational health and safety committees. From the CGT to the CFDT, via FO, all have retained bitterness, even resentment with regard to these provisions, which limit their influence in companies. They ask for their relaxation. This request is likely, however, to remain a dead letter: the government having assured the employers, which it received ten days ago, that it would not touch the ordinances, symbol of macronie.
Finally, the unions want the aid granted to companies to be conditional on requirements for maintaining employment, respecting environmental criteria, or even corporate ethics – for example, by limiting the increase in the salaries of bosses – …
This idea is not new, and meets with few echoes today in the government. The unions, however, want to put it on top of the pile. They measure, for example, how much the millions of euros in increases from big bosses (like Ben Smith, at Air France, or Carlos Tavares, at Stellantis, etc.) can shock workers who are struggling to make ends meet. Big bosses whose companies are now posting record results, who have largely benefited from public aid during or after Covid-19, and who without the presence of the State would probably have sometimes disappeared.
And a few points of difference
On the other hand, the CFDT will be better able to fight for the universal time savings account, a sort of time bank, which it has had for a long time and on which the government is working… Or even for the participation of staff representatives in the Comex to go towards the ” co-construction German style.
Ditto on the sharing of value. Last February, the CFDT signed the agreement with employers, unlike the CGT which rejected it, believing that it did not go far enough. A text that the government has promised to transcribe as is in a bill different from the Full Employment Act.
On the method, too, the points of view between CFDT and CGT are different: to be heard, the CGT does not exclude punching actions – such as power cuts, gatherings with the sound of pans, boxes reds and disruptions of sporting events, etc. – , unlike the CFDT which does not approve of these ways of mobilizing.
For the time being, the unions have still not received Matignon’s invitations. Elisabeth Borne intends to send them quickly. It plans to invite the unions separately, bilaterally. History surely to insist on the divergences rather than on the convergences.
The employer’s proposal
At the same time, the three major representative employers’ organizations proposed, on Tuesday, a meeting with their union counterparts. If the Medef or the CPME remained silent during this conflict, they kept in regular contact with the leaders of the trade unions, and in particular, those of the reformist organisations. Without waiting, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux for the Medef, as well as the leaders of the CPME and the U2P therefore sent a letter on Tuesday to invite the unions to define together “of a negotiation agenda and a method”as quickly as possible.
If the employers do not want to be in time, and are on the initiative, it is because they are afraid of being the eventual loser of the discussions to come between unions and the government. To be the one who pays for measures that he would not have chosen … whether on the employment of seniors, salaries, or even hardship … He therefore intends to be part of it. In the name of parity!
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