They had not seen each other since the presentation of the government plan in January. This Wednesday, Elisabeth Borne receives in a gesture of “appeasement” the unions to try to get out of the pension crisis. Easier said than done: since the beginning of the social movement, the unions have not been demanding anything other than the “withdrawal” of the reform.
The Prime Minister promised that she would be “listening to all the issues” that the unions wanted to discuss during this meeting which will begin at 10.00 in Matignon, despite “points of disagreement” on the pension reform, in particular the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
For their part, the unions have already warned: if the executive refuses to talk about the 64 years, “we are leaving”, the leader of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, had indicated. Same story on the side of the new head of the CGT, Sophie Binet, who will be eager to show her determination for her baptism of fire at the head of the protest organization. In the event of Elisabeth Borne’s refusal to withdraw her text, “the meeting runs the risk of being very fast”, said the trade unionist who assures that the way out of the crisis can only go through a withdrawal.
“Dead end”
On one side or the other, there are few illusions about the outcome of this meeting at Matignon. The meeting with Elisabeth Borne “is already written”, considers a prominent minister, who expects a dead end. At BFM Business, a union official sets the stage.
On the eve of an eleventh day of mobilization and a week before the verdict of the Constitutional Council, everyone expects a tense atmosphere between the Prime Minister and the representatives of the inter-union. Especially since the latter claim to speak only of lowering the retirement age and refuse to address other issues.
Bad luck for the Government that wants to “negotiate something else” than pensions, according to a minister. Élisabeth Borne herself insists that there are “many topics to discuss” about “the quality of life at work, about the end of the career, about the prevention of hardship.”
communication exercise
Under these conditions, the discussions run the risk of being cut short and leading to a new declaration of disagreement. But for both parties, this meeting is also an exercise in communication. For the executive, it is about showing that the door is still open to the unions, that dialogue is always possible. The inter-union, which met on Tuesday to prepare this meeting with the prime minister and speak with one voice at the end, intends for its part to show that it is not ready to fracture as some might fear.
Another trade union source denies the recent dissonance between the CFDT, which calls for “withdrawing or suspending” the text, and the CGT, which wants a pure and simple “withdrawal”: “actually speaking of suspension is like for the CPE (first-party contract) work), is not to apply”. In addition to the withdrawal of the reform, the CFDT should, however, demand a social conference on work and pensions, according to its national secretary, Yvan Ricordeau.
Source: BFM TV
