They continue to talk to each other, despite their differences. Monday, September 5, eight employee unions and five movements representing students and high school students are invited to meet at the CFDT headquarters in Paris. The agenda is copious and in direct contact with the major back-to-school issues: remuneration, soaring energy prices, compensation for the unemployed, working conditions in companies and educational establishments… The protagonists are not preparing not the “big night”, but seek to develop a collective discourse towards public authorities, employers and employers.
“This is the continuation of the discussion we had at the beginning of the summer”, explains Philippe Martinez, the general secretary of the CGT. An allusion to the time of exchange between the thirteen organizations concerned, which resulted, on July 12, in a joint press release on the need for“a better distribution of wealth”. The initiative had caught the attention, because it is very rare that all these actors speak with the same voice. “It never happenedeven says Frédéric Souillot, the number one of FO. We have every interest in bringing this inter-union to life to show the workers that their demands are defended. » In an interview at Worlddated August 31, Laurent Berger, the general secretary of the CFDT, had insisted on the importance of these exchanges, beyond the “differences on strategy” that may exist between plants.
According to Mr. Martinez, Monday’s meeting aims to carry out “a round table” on the “priorities” of the moment and on “mobilizations” underway, knowing that the CGT has called for a national day of action on September 29. Salaries continue to be “a major subject, despite the law” on the purchasing power protection enacted in August, he says.
“A form of attrition”
The reform of unemployment insurance, which aims to modulate the rights to a benefit according to the situation of the labor market, must also be addressed. All the participants in Monday’s meeting are opposed to it, for questions of substance but also of method: the government intends to ask the unions and the employers to negotiate on this project, but it has already decided on the main principles future changes. “We are left to examine the modalities, when we would like to be able to examine the change in philosophy of the system”declares Cyril Chabanier, the president of the CFTC.
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