Attal is concerned about the "smicardization" of society with union leaders

"It was the Prime Minister himself who spoke, with a concerned air, of what he called the 'smicardization' of society," François Hommeril told AFP after his first interview with Gabriel Attal.

“My great cause is to fight against the minimum wage of our employees,” the head of government also assured the president of the CFTC, Cyril Chabanier, according to the latter.

The Prime Minister admitted that there was a “huge subject on low-wage traps”, which through exemptions push employers not to increase the remuneration levels of their employees, confided the president of the CFTC .

The union leader insisted that "branches which structurally have classification levels starting below the minimum wage (...) be sanctioned".

The Prime Minister once again assured that the "High Council for Remuneration", announced in October but whose contours remain unclear, would be put in place and that negotiations on the employment of seniors would continue.

"What is worrying", nuanced Mr. Chabanier, "is that he confirmed this desire of the President of the Republic for an Act II of the reform of the employment market" which would involve "a new unemployment insurance reform", which has already seen two in recent years.

“If it’s still to tighten the compensation or duration rules, no!” warned Cyril Chabanier, who demanded that “the first two reforms be evaluated before making a third”.

The objective of these future measures is to "achieve full employment" by 2027. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Labor published Thursday, 3,033 million people, without activity and who were actively looking for work, were registered with Pôle emploi. (became France Travail on January 1) in the last quarter of 2023. A figure which continues to increase, but less quickly, since the summer.