Borne's invitation to the unions: the CGT says it will go to Matignon but does not intend to "give up"

CGT General Secretary Sophie Binet will visit Matignon on May 16 or 17, responding to the Prime Minister's invitation to the unions for bilateral talks, the CGT said Saturday.

The prime minister sent out the invitations on Friday for talks without a "precise agenda", which come after the promulgation of the highly contested pension reform and large demonstrations on May 1. "Sophie Binet will go to Elisabeth Borne," said a spokeswoman for the CGT who had left doubt about her participation in these exchanges.

«

If Elisabeth Borne tells us "I do not withdraw the pension reform and I want to discuss measures that represent social regressions for employees"; of course, the appointment will quickly turn short, "adds this Sunday on franceinfo the confederal secretary of the CGT, Céline Verzeletti. "We are certainly not going to give up," she adds, "we hope that the government comes to its senses because if it remains on its initial positions, it is a real problem. This means that it does not take into account the current social context at all. That would be a real political mistake on his part."

" READ ALSO Who is Marylise Léon, who should succeed Laurent Berger at the head of the CFDT?

A battle that "is not over"

The Prime Minister issued these invitations to the five representative unions - CFDT, CGT, FO- CFE-CGC and CFTC - a month after a meeting in Matignon with the inter-union opposed to the reform. The meeting was cut short and the trade unions scheduled a new day of demonstrations on 6 June.

The boss of the CFDT Laurent Berger, who intends to accept the invitation, had said Thursday that the "battle" against the pension reform was "not over". He notably launched an appeal to "all parliamentarians" who will examine on 8th June a bill by the independent group Liot to repeal the postponement of the retirement age to 64 years. Regarding the upcoming talks at Matignon, "we will have a requirement of method" and "we would like to know if it is to negotiate, discuss or "blabtier"", he said, before Matignon launched his invitations.