After pensions, salaries: return of unions to the streets

The failure of their fight in the spring, which had nevertheless brought together more than a million participants on several occasions according to the authorities, did not dampen the motivation of the members of the inter-union even if on the ground, the mobilization should be much weaker.

CFDT, CGT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, Unsa, Solidaires and FSU, with several youth organizations, are calling for demonstrations on Friday "against austerity and for an increase in wages, pensions and gender equality ".

This day constitutes "a first mobilization in a European union framework", reports the inter-union. At the call of the European Trade Union Confederation (CES), demonstrations will also be organized in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain, among others, before a new meeting scheduled for December 13.

Some 200 actions have been announced in numerous cities in France, according to the CGT. In total, the movement could bring together, according to the authorities, 150.000 people throughout the country (including Paris, where the police expect between 10.000 and 15.000 people).

The Parisian procession will set off at 14:00 p.m. from Place d'Italie (13th arrondissement) towards Place Vauban (7th arrondissement).

“Lighthouse in the Storm”

“The subject of the start of the school year is the question of salaries and gender equality,” insists the number one of the CGT, Sophie Binet.

The inter-union is calling for "an increase in salaries, minimum wage, pensions" or the suspension of "tax exemptions" granted to companies if they refuse to open salary negotiations, indicates the Montreuil central office, which also defends its part “the indexation of wages to prices”.

“Expectations are extremely high from the world of work”, underlined the general secretary of the CFDT, Marylise Léon, for whom “on a social level, the situation remains worrying”. “The question of purchasing power is the priority with inflation which is causing the meters to panic (...) Many people are falling into poverty,” she expressed alarm.

For the unions, the challenge is also to continue to show themselves united while negotiations on unemployment insurance remain difficult, after an agreement was reached with employers on supplementary pensions, an agreement criticized by the government.

They will be gathered Friday morning at Force Ouvrière headquarters in Paris for a joint press conference, during which their European counterparts will also speak.

“In this troubled context, union unity is very important and the inter-union is a beacon in the storm,” argues Ms. Binet.

New generation of members

“This social return is largely linked to all the events that we have experienced over the past several months,” Ms. Léon also noted. “If today we see the emergence of a social conference, a social agenda, tripartite negotiations, (...) it is because there were millions of workers who mobilized for months.”

The challenge is therefore for the unions to be numerous before the social conference, chaired by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, which will be held on Monday at the Cese (Economic, Social and Environmental Council). The day of October 13 must serve as a “springboard”, believes Ms. Binet.

Beyond the return match, the unions must also meet the expectations of a new generation of members (nearly 28.000 at FO in the first half, around 60.000 for the CFDT, 50.000 for the CGT).

But in the opinion of even a union source, “it will not be a tidal wave”.

“After the sequence on pensions”, Murielle Guilbert, co-delegate of Solidaires, also fears that it will be “even more difficult for employees or precarious workers to mobilize” and believes that “one day will not be enough”. She arranges to meet “after the social conference to see what balance of power we can build.”