Pensions: what future for mobilization and union unity?

Representatives of the inter-union before a meeting with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, April 5, 2023. AP - Michel Euler

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Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne receives representatives of employers on Monday 22 May. These meetings follow a series of meetings with unions to discuss wages, working conditions and employee representation. Union representatives again insisted on reminding the government of their opposition to the pension reform. This battle "will never stop", hammers this Sunday Laurent Berger, of the CFDT, while the appeals against this reform are soon coming to an end.

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Will the fight for pensions end on June 8, after the National Assembly examines a bill that seeks to repeal the reform? To this question posed by the Journal du dimanche, Laurent Berger clearly answers no and calls on the government not to try to avoid the examination of the text. But immediately, he nuances: "It is certain that we will not make repeated demonstrations" for a goal "difficult to achieve.

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Laurent Berger is preparing to leave the leadership of the reformist union, after ten years in office. It starts in the wake of this mobilization against the pension reform, marked by the unity of the unions, but for the moment also by a failure to prevent the postponement of the legal retirement age.

The union unity displayed for months could crumble once the June 8 deadline passes. The CGT, a protesting union, refuses a new meeting with the government as long as there are no concrete announcements on pensions or wages. The leader of the CFDT has already agreed to new discussions. "If we can make common demands, that's fine. Otherwise, it is (the sign of) the plurality of the trade union movement," he concludes.

The unions are due to meet on 30 May to define common demands. They also called for a new demonstration against the pension reform on 6 June.

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Read on on the same topics:

  • France
  • Elisabeth Borne
  • Unions
  • Social issues
  • Employment and Labour