Pensions: Following her meeting with Elisabeth Borne, unions remain opposed to any postponement of retirement age

His meeting on Thursday morning with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will have changed nothing. The main unions remain strongly opposed to raising the legal retirement age to 65. The general secretaries of the CFDT and the CGT, Laurent Berger and Philippe Martinez, have promised a “resolute” social mobilization if this measure is maintained.

“They are stubborn, I weigh my words, to say that you have to work until you are 65 years old”, lamented Philippe Martínez, received for the first time by the President of the Government, as he left Matignon.

Philippe Martinez denounced an “incomprehensible method, since we made a point with the President of the Government while the consultations have not ended”.

Under these conditions, the CGT “surely not” will attend the meeting set this Friday by the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, its general secretary announced.

Are the two months of consultation not taken into account?

Received calmly, Laurent Berger expressed his “fear” that the reform would focus on an “age measure” (postponement of the legal exit age or extension of the contribution period) “that would not take into account two months of consultation” .

The leader of the first French union recalled his proposals “on older workers, hard work, small pensions”, before a “listening” prime minister.

“But any postponement of the legal retirement age will cause the CFDT to be in inter-union to mobilize,” he warned. “I repeat it forcefully: beware of a reform that will be harsh, that will be very harsh for the workers, and the social reaction will be just as determined.”

A first day of mobilization in January

All the unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires and FSU) announced that they would decide on a “first unitary mobilization date” in January “if the government remains propped up in its project” to force the employees to work longer, with the argument of guaranteeing the balance of the pension system.

This day of action would be announced the same night as the presentation of the government project, which should take place around December 15.

The postponement of the retirement age to 65 years is the preferred path of this reform, which will be included in a draft amending budget for Social Security, several guests at a dinner at the Élysée Palace reported on Thursday.