Pensions: unions relieved but wary before consultation


The new consultation on pensions announced Thursday by the government was favorably received by the unions, unanimously opposed to a “passage in force” this fall but who now expect the executive to show “loyalty”. After two weeks of hesitation within her majority, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne indicated that a consultation on the pension reform will begin “as of next week” with the social partners, with a view to a bill which will have to be adopted “before the end of winter”.

The CFDT will engage in the discussions

A tight schedule, but still less than the hypothesis of an amendment to the Social Security budget, which had provoked an outcry from the unions. First of them, “the CFDT takes note of an inflection which it claimed” and makes it known that it “will engage in the discussions”, according to a press release. But the organization also demands “loyalty and transparency” on “the objectives of the reform” and recalls “its refusal to postpone the legal age of departure to 65”, mentioned by Emmanuel Macron during the last presidential campaign.

The CGT has not yet decided whether it will participate in this consultation under the aegis of the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt. But “we want to talk about new recipes to finance a retirement at 60 and improvements in the level of pensions”, says its negotiator Catherine Perret. Same caution with his Force Ouvrière counterpart, Michel Beaugas, ready to “discuss employment of seniors, hardship, long careers”, but without “the corollary being a decline in the starting age”, and not before the planned inter-union Monday “to see if we can have a common position”.

Unsa “ready for a fair debate”

Unsa, which will host this meeting, for its part said it was “ready for a fair debate” on pensions, welcoming in a press release the abandonment of a “forced passage” this fall, while warning that in the event of an increase in the legal age or the contribution period, “confrontation would be inevitable”. The CFTC also “will go to negotiations”, says its vice-president Pascale Coton, who “would like to have more time” to discuss all the subjects, including the level of women’s pensions. The government “wants a text before Christmas, but it’s short,” she adds.



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