The secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, affirms in an interview with the JDD on Sunday that the battle for pensions "will never stop", specifying however that he prefers "to obtain concrete progress" for the employees rather than "pursuing a goal hard to reach."
"We will see after the 8th (June, theoretical day of the examination of a law of repeal of the pension reform, editor's note). It is certain that we are not going to make repeated demonstrations", affirms M Berger, who will leave office on June 21, asked about the future of the protest movement against the raising of the retirement age to 64.
"Our subject today, within the intersyndicale, is to ask ourselves if we are sending this popular force into the wall by making it pursue a goal that is difficult to achieve? Or are we transforming it into energy to put our interlocutors under pressure and obtain concrete progress? I prefer the second option", he continues.
These statements come a few days after the unions resumed dialogue with the Prime Minister during bilateral meetings in Matignon, despite their intact opposition to the pension reform, promulgated on April 14.
After having failed to make the government back down, the unions are faced with a dilemma, reject the resumption of dialogue with the government, or resume discussions to obtain "concrete progress" despite everything.
The secretary general of the CGT, Sophie Binet, said on Wednesday that she did not see the interest of a multilateral State-trade union-employer relationship, as Elisabeth Borne would like, if there were "no concrete announcements on the question of the withdrawal of the pension reform or the increase in wages".
"We will participate in the sequel," said Mr. Berger. “Some inter-union colleagues may disagree on this. But we want to use the strength of the social movement to obtain progress for the workers and that requires going to discuss”, he affirms.
Another sign of possible disagreements within the inter-union, Mr. Berger is less affirmative than Ms. Binet on the fact that common proposals will emerge from the union meeting scheduled for May 30.
"The inter-union will meet on May 30, we will see if an answer emerges the same evening. If we can make common demands, that's very good. Otherwise, it remains the plurality of the trade union movement, "explains- he.
05/21/2023 09:33:15 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
