The Work and Pensions conference will open on Tuesday, without the CGT.

"On November 4, we will officially launch the Work and Pensions conference with all trade union and employer organizations," Jean-Pierre Farandou said in a written statement to AFP, as the examination of the Social Security budget (PLFSS) will open the same day in the National Assembly with the suspension of the pension reform as a key issue.

With them, "we will lay the foundations for a working method based on listening and discussion with the shared objective of building an open and calm space for dialogue on structural issues for the future of the French," he continued.

In his general policy statement on October 14, Sébastien Lecornu announced the holding of this conference. He specified before the Senate that the government would propose, in particular, "entrusting the management of the pension system to the social partners."

The Ministry of Labour stated that Tuesday's meeting "will be devoted to the presentation of this initiative as well as initial discussions on the format and working method envisaged."

"Holding the candles"

Marylise Léon, general secretary of the first union, the CFDT, as well as the president of the CFTC Cyril Chabanier, both indicated to AFP that they would participate in the meeting.

FO will be represented by its number two Patricia Drevon and its head for the public service Christian Grolier, and the CFE-CGC by Christelle Thieffinne and Maxime Legrand.

But the CGT, France's second-largest union, will not be there. "It's the day of our CCN (National Confederal Committee), the CGT's parliament. Obviously, the CGT won't be able to be there," Sophie Binet told AFP, adding that this long-planned internal meeting was all the more important as it was "a preparatory meeting for our congress" scheduled for June 2026.

If the Minister of Labour "wants the CGT to participate, the timetable, the content, the procedures, the facilitation of this famous labour conference about which we know nothing, must be decided and worked on with all the trade union organisations," she further explained.

Beyond Tuesday, the CGT is also demanding substantive guarantees before participating in the conference: it will refuse to "hold the candle between those who want a points-based system (advocated by the CFDT) and those who want capitalization", particularly within employers' organizations, warns Sophie Binet.

"What we want is a serious framework to talk about the financing of the pay-as-you-go pension system, to talk about the financing of the repeal of the pension reform" as well as "working conditions, democracy at work and especially the labor ordinances imposed by Emmanuel Macron in 2017," explains the union leader.

The CGT will be the only one of the five representative trade union organizations to be absent from Tuesday's meeting.

The CFDT had indicated in a press release on October 14 that it would participate in the conference, "which will reopen the subject of hardship" which had caused the "conclave" in June to fail, and "will incorporate the issue of financial balance".