Sophie Binet has not said her last word on pension reform. In an interview with the Sunday Journal (JDD) of June 4, the secretary general of the CGT insists on the importance of mobilization, two days before the fourteenth day of action planned at the call of the inter-union.
“Nothing is written in advance for the CGT. So far, we have defied all predictions, she says. It’s been six months since the inter-union has been mobilized, it’s huge. The consequences will depend on the level of mobilization on Tuesday and the vote [at the National Assembly] on June 8. So I call on everyone to take to the streets. »
The deputies must consider, Thursday, the bill tabled by the group Freedom, independent, overseas and territories (LIOT), which mainly aimed to repeal the decline in the legal age of departure from 62 to 64 years old, but which was emptied of its substance, on May 31, in the Social Affairs Committee.
“We scored crucial points: we won the battle of consciences, put unionism back at the center and caused Emmanuel Macron to lose all social and political majority. And, yes, I confirm it: there is still time for him to come to his senses and renounce this reform, ”she assures.
“Macron goes short on the far right”
If the opposition amendments to reintroduce the repeal of the postponement of the legal retirement age to 64 are rejected under Article 40 of the Constitution, emptying of its substance the vote on the LIOT bill on June 8 , “it will be a pure democratic scandal,” she warns. “Never has there been such an obstacle on a bill,” she judges. It would be “unprecedented and it would create a heavy precedent”, insists the union official, saying she is “very worried about the rise of the far right”. “If she comes to power tomorrow, these authoritarian maneuvers will be able to spread,” she fears.
Asked about the words of the President of the Republic who reframed the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, for having qualified the National Rally (RN) as “heir to Pétain”, she judges that “it is extremely shocking”. “This confirms that Emmanuel Macron is making the short run to the far right when he was elected to block him. The RN has never been higher than since he came to power. He bears an overwhelming responsibility. »
Regarding the government’s plan to condition the payment of active solidarity income (RSA) to compulsory hours of activity, Sophie Binet sees it as a “scandalous stigmatization of people deprived of employment”. “When you have 530 euros a month, you don’t live. It is not a privilege that allows you to bask in the pill, ”she judges.
New face of the CGT since her election at its head two months ago to succeed Philippe Martinez, Sophie Binet welcomes a form of unity found during the fight against pension reform, in a union marked by fractures between reformists and radicals. She announces “30,000 new union members since the start of the mobilization”, and calls for greater unionization. “Let’s not wait for things to come from above,” she concludes.
