Repeal of the pension reform: what are the scenarios envisaged by the inter-union?

Barthélémy Philippe / Photo credit: MARTIN NODA / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 06:08, May 31, 2023

This is the last hope of the inter-union, which summoned the press on Tuesday to beat the recall for the mobilization of June 6. Two days later, the bill to repeal the pension reform, which emanates from the Liot group, must be examined by the National Assembly. Problem: the government and the majority are ready to use all legislative and constitutional levers to prevent MPs from voting for it.

Without a vote in favour of repeal, the worst-case scenario, the inter-union would lose all hope of bringing down the reform. Yet this is the one that is emerging, so the union leaders are waving the threat of a hypothetical social explosion, if the vote is prevented. "We saw what the 49-3 gave. Imagine a refusal to vote in the Assembly," says Thomas Vacheron, a member of the CGT confederal bureau.

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Several possible options

For her part, the number two of the CFDT Marylise Léon prefers not to consider it for the moment: "Fiction politics is not my cup of tea. What I can say at the moment is that if the government does everything to prevent the examination of the text, it would be extremely serious, it would be extremely worrying for our democracy," she said. At this stage, the inter-union has not defined a strategy to respond to a lack of vote.

Several options are possible: a communiqué, a press conference before the Assembly, or even a new day of mobilization. In any case, the unions will find it very difficult to prolong the movement against the pension reform, several weeks after the last major mobilization.