Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, meets Prime Minister Jean Castex during a meeting with the social partners, July 9, 2020. - Eric Tschaen-Pool / Sipa

Barely appointed, Prime Minister Jean Castex had declared that he wanted to "settle the pensions file in the short term". A priori, this will be done without the CFDT. Its secretary general Laurent Berger postponed Thursday any immediate resumption of discussions on this explosive reform, after an hour and a quarter of talks with the new head of government.

For the boss of the reformist union, "clearly, the priority today is jobs". "We have clearly told the Prime Minister that the question of pensions should not pollute the issue of recovery," reported Laurent Berger to the press. "This is not the subject of summer and autumn," he said. “The CFDT does not practice the empty chair, but if the government opens consultations on pensions this summer or in the fall, the CFDT will not really invest in it. "

Jean Castex, "interactive" Prime Minister for Laurent Berger

After having fostered sometimes stormy relations with Edouard Philippe, Laurent Berger welcomed this contact with his successor "very frank, very open on the question of method". "On the way to dialogue, it is extremely direct, it is interactive," continued the secretary general of the CFDT, which however expects "acts".

Jean Castex "very clearly declared that he wanted to have social dialogue with the trade unions and employers' organizations, that he did not want to put us aside," he added. "On the method, we are rather ready to have these exchanges". A possible multilateral meeting is to take place sometime next week, possibly July 17.

If the substance of the files has not really been addressed, "we felt the Prime Minister ready to shift widely" the implementation of the second part of the unemployment insurance reform, originally scheduled for September 1 and including unions ask for abandonment.

FO welcomes "a positive signal"

Yves Veyrier, secretary general of FO, judged that this desire for dialogue was "a positive signal" but, he added, "we will judge what the decisions will ultimately be".

On the issue of pensions, he reiterated that there was "no question" of having age measures (lengthening the period of contributions for example), stressing that the "eight" representative organizations of unions and employers have says, "now is not the time" We must focus "on support measures" for employment and wages given the social crisis, and a health crisis that is not over.

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  • Jean Castex
  • CFDT
  • Union
  • Laurent Berger
  • Pension reform