For at least several months, the inter-union will no longer march in full force in the street. During a meeting, Friday 1er December, at the national headquarters of the CFDT in Paris, the leaders of the eight main employee organizations attempted to redefine the operating rules of their alliance, crossed by tensions for some time after the long fight, in close ranks, against the reform retirements.
This is not a divorce, but the parties involved are turning a page: they are stopping – at least temporarily – all together launching calls for demonstrations, while maintaining their exchanges at a less sustained pace than before. and with a variable number of participants depending on the circumstances or the files to be processed. Common maneuvers in public spaces have been put on hold but could restart at the end of winter.
“We don’t go from everything to nothing”
During their conclave on Friday, the number ones told each other their four truths and drew the consequences for the future. “When it is used to organize mobilizations against regressive reforms like those on pensions, the inter-union is a great tool”, confides Frédéric Souillot. But according to the leader of FO, the time has come to “store this tool in a box”which does not exclude, he wishes to clarify, “that we take it out if other large-scale laws, contrary to the interests of workers, are presented by the government”. Several federal officials agree with this: “The fact is that the inter-union cannot be the same as during the pension reform”, estimates Cyril Chabanier, president of the CFTC. Such a union “is always limited to a particular moment and a specific theme”adds François Hommeril, the boss of the CFE-CGC.
The end of a common adventure? No, at this stage, because Mr. Souillot says that he and his counterparts will ” continue to [se] see and [se] speak, as before the pension reform ». “We don’t yet know how we’re going to organize things, but we’re going to meet regularlyconfirms Marylise Léon, general secretary of the CFDT. Does it have to be two, three, four times a year? I don’t know, but the important thing will be to ritualize it. » It’s a “new phase” which is opening, assures Sophie Binet, the leader of the CGT. “The existence of the inter-union was linked to the fight against pension reform, but we are going to extend in another form the unitary work which had been undertaken since the summer of 2022, she adds. This will be part of a flexible framework, fluctuating according to the subjects, the aim being to establish it over the long term. » Mr. Chabanier sums it up in a few words: “We don’t go from everything to nothing. »
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