Paris (AFP)

"Lost opportunity" for the CFDT, "deeply scandalous" according to the CGT, "unacceptable" in the eyes of FO: whether they are rather favorable or hostile to the pension reform, the unions deplored the use of the article on Saturday 49-3 of the Constitution to pass the bill.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe hired his government on Saturday to have the text adopted without a vote, after obtaining the green light from the Council of Ministers at midday.

"We regret that the substantive debate is still hidden, it is a lost opportunity," regretted to AFP CFDT retirement negotiator, Frédéric Sève, who counted on the deputies of the majority to improve a text "insufficient on arduousness, minimum pensions or securing transitions in the public service".

"The Prime Minister undertook to present a different text which incorporates improvements but without taking into account at this stage our priority request: the arduousness which affects workers subjected to the handling of heavy loads, painful postures, mechanical vibrations and chemical risks will still not give the right to compensation and an early retirement, "regretted the first French trade union center later in a statement.

For the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, "the attitude of the government is deeply scandalous, and therefore there will be a reaction to the height".

The cégétiste leader told AFP that the intersyndicale (CGT, FO, Solidaires, FSU and youth organizations) opposed to the universal points retirement system would meet Monday morning to discuss a new mobilization "as of next week ". That is to say "during the debate on 49-3 and the possible censure motion," he said.

- "React to this coup" -

Tired after two and a half months of conflict and ten inter-professional days between December 5 and February 20, the intersyndicale had planned an 11th date of distant mobilization, March 31. The use of 49-3 changed the game. "We are not the ones who changed the calendar, it is the government," said Philippe Martinez on Saturday.

"When you can't convince, you can coerce, that's typically what the government does," he said.

The head of the cégétiste criticized the "somewhat special" method of the executive, "which made an extraordinary Council of Ministers this (Saturday) morning to talk about the health problem that strikes our country and the planet (the coronavirus, Editor's note), then came out with a 49-3. It is strange to say the least. "

"The crisis situation relating to the coronavirus epidemic" demanded for FO number one, Yves Veyrier, "the greatest national solidarity and consequently appeasement, a fortiori on such a controversial subject, where the government is increasingly isolated. " The attitude of the executive "is incomprehensible and unacceptable," he tweeted.

Also on Twitter, the CFTC regretted "arriving at 49-3" after two years of consultation. But for its president Cyril Chabanier, "the fight continues before the Senate and the National Assembly in 2nd reading" for "a real recognition of the arduousness" and "long careers".

According to Solidaires, "the government's response is therefore, after the contempt for social dialogue, that of a passage in force", of "a real denial of democracy". In a statement, the union said it had "contacted the other members of the inter-union to react together quickly to this coup".

© 2020 AFP