After the parliamentarians, it is the unions’ turn to be received at Matignon. Elisabeth Borne meets Wednesday, April 5 at 10 a.m. with representatives of the inter-union. At the heart of this consultation, the pension reform, which the unions reject in unison. The heads of the eight main organizations also met on Tuesday, April 4, in the afternoon, at the CFDT headquarters to tune their violins before this summit meeting.
According to a participant in this preparatory meeting, it “took place in a very good atmosphere. The inter-union is well united, welded. It’s reassuring, nothing has changed. Tomorrow, the government, which wants to turn the page, will see that we don’t want to turn the page.” “We are going to repeat to the Prime Minister our opposition to the 64-year-olds, ask her not to apply this text and to launch a social dialogue on work and pensions”, confirms the national secretary of the CFDT Yvan Ricordeau.
If the government assures of its willingness to listen, the discussion could however come to an end. “We cannot take a break when we have a bill that has been passed, which is being examined by the Constitutional Council”, has already declared Élisabeth Borne, while ensuring that “everyone will have the opportunity to express its positions during this meeting”.
The national secretary of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, has already warned: if the subject of the retirement age at 64 is not put on the table, “we will leave”. “It can last five minutes,” added the new boss of the CGT, Sophie Binet, freshly elected after an eventful congress.
It seems unlikely that the Prime Minister plans to simply withdraw her reform, as the inter-union wishes. As the Minister of Labor stated, the government “intends to implement the voted text”. On the other hand, according to the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, the “operational implementation” of the reform can be mentioned, because it contains “a lot of points of discussion and exchanges”.
The government wants the exchanges not to be limited to pension reform alone: ??there could also be talk of a future labor bill carried by Minister Olivier Dussopt, which should arrive in Parliament before the summer. But the unions, they come to talk about pensions and won’t sweep the subject so quickly.