After nearly an hour of discussions at Matignon, the inter-union deplored the "failure" of its meeting with Elisabeth Borne, who, unsurprisingly, refused to reconsider the pension reform. The organizations are jointly calling for his "withdrawal" and have called on "maximum workers and citizens" to participate in the protests scheduled for Thursday.
“We have repeated to the Prime Minister that there can be no other democratic outcome than the withdrawal of the text. The Prime Minister replied that she wanted to maintain her text, a serious decision, "said Cyril Chabanier, on behalf of the inter-union, on the steps of Matignon. "We refuse to turn the page and open, as the government wishes, other sequences of consultation on issues as diverse as full employment or the sharing of wealth," said the confederal president of the CFTC.
"We are going through a serious democratic crisis, we had a social crisis which is turning into a democratic crisis", Laurent Berger said after him, before continuing: "It is the responsibility of the Constitutional Council, which we respect and that we are not putting under pressure, to hear today that our democracy needs appeasement and that appeasement would mean that this text does not apply. Wednesday noon, the presidency of the Republic wanted to refute the term "democratic crisis" used by the secretary general of the CFDT.
On the eve of the eleventh day of national mobilization, the trade unionist finally called "a maximum of workers, citizens, in this country to join the processions everywhere in France tomorrow. We must demonstrate the strength of social democracy in calm, without violence”.
Present for the first time in an institutional sequence within the inter-union, the new general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, described the meeting as "useless" from the court of Matignon. “Our presence here proves our sense of responsibility and dialogue. We found in front of us a radicalized, obtuse and disconnected government,” she said, before deploring a “hard-line, violent and irresponsible strategy. The government bears the responsibility for the disorder. »
A few minutes after the departure of the trade unionists, Elisabeth Borne took the floor, in turn, from the courtyard of Matignon. “Even though our disagreements over age did not allow for in-depth discussion, I believe this meeting nonetheless marks an important milestone,” the premier said. The trade unions, as they were able to tell you, are available to work later on these subjects and I told them my availability and that of my government because I do not envisage moving forward without the social partners".
This is the first time that the Prime Minister has received the trade unions since the presentation on January 10 of the reform. This generated an unprecedented almost weekly mobilization of up to 1.3 million people in the street on March 7 (according to the authorities), more than in 1995 or 2010. And these demonstrations experienced a resurgence of tensions after the adoption without a vote of the reform in Parliament, thanks to 49.3. The unions had already asked, in vain, to be received by Emmanuel Macron. Elisabeth Borne then sent them back to the Ministry of Labor.
In addition to the inter-union this morning, the Prime Minister will receive at the end of the afternoon the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, that of the General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, François Asselin, and Jean-Christophe Repon of the Union of local businesses (U2P). She will finally meet with the main representatives of the right - Eric Ciotti, Olivier Marleix and Bruno Retailleau, Stéphane Séjourné.
"Worried about the voltage level"
On the government side, the wish is to "negotiate something other" than pensions, according to a minister, "worried about the level of tension", pending the decision of the Constitutional Council on Friday 14. Elisabeth Borne considers that there are "many subjects to address" on "the quality of life at work, on career endings, on the prevention of arduous work".
The executive is also counting on the fatigue of the demonstrators as the spring break begins on April 8. "The way things went on Tuesday [March 28] is rather positive: a declining mobilization, unions that accept to be received," said a Renaissance deputy after the tenth day of mobilization.
Conversely, the unions intend "to show [Thursday] that mobilization is still powerful". The leader of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, hopes, in L'Obs, that the Constitutional Council "will censor the law". Because "if there is censorship of specific points such as the 'senior index', hardship at work, etc., but not of 64 years old, then that will in no way respond to the ongoing social conflict", according to him. The Constitutional Council will make its decision on April 14. Unions like the left are also counting on the validation by the high court of the referendum of shared initiative (RIP) on the reform.
