The CGT and Sophie Binet point out an alleged advantage granted to employers by François Bayrou, in the upcoming discussions supposed to lead to an agreement on pension reform.
François Bayrou faces opposition on the thorny issue of pensions. Tuesday, January 14, during his general policy declaration (DPG), the Prime Minister “chose to bring this subject back to work with the social partners for a short time and under transparent conditions”, adding that he “does not have a totem or taboo, not even on the legal age of departure.
To do this, the tenant of Matignon launched the holding of a “conclave” to return to the pension reform. The word is clever, and refers to the closed enclosure to which the cardinals retire to elect the popes. No repeal therefore, nor suspension strictly speaking, but discussions over a period of three months with the social partners.
Discussions played out in advance for Sophie Binet (CGT)
With this “radical and unprecedented” method, in his words, he intends to achieve unanimity among the different political forces. However, “if the social partners did not agree (during the negotiations), it is the current reform which would continue to apply”, indicated government spokesperson Sophie Primas. This is the heart of the problem for the trade union organizations and in particular the CGT, which sees this as a detail which could quite simply derail the pension reform.
“In the form of these discussions, the Prime Minister puts the employers in a position of strength, while the employers are keen on 64-year-olds and even want to go further by entrusting our pensions to the pension funds,” complained Sophie Binet,General Secretary of the CGT this Wednesday morning at the microphone of RTL. According to her, the Prime Minister “already knows” that the discussions will not come to an end, and that the previous pension reform – that of Elisabeth Borne – will continue.
A “right of veto” given to Medef?
So, is common ground possible?Asked about the negotiations around pension reform at the National Assembly this Wednesday, François Bayrou indicated that if “progress” between social partners emerged without “general agreement”, a text would still be sent to Parliament. “If this is the case, we will have a text which will take up these adaptations and these progress, and we will submit it to the Assembly,” assured the Prime Minister. According to him, “it is perhaps likely that a situation will arise in which room for progression, movement, change, adaptation will have been identified without there being a general agreement.”
On the PS side, the turn of events does not encourage optimism, quite the contrary. “It’s completely insufficient. In truth, we’re giving Medef a right of veto in the negotiations. It’s a foregone conclusion,” regrets socialist deputy Philippe Brun, this Wednesday on BFMTV. From now on, the first important meeting even before the start of the conclave is the meeting of Socialist Party deputies, this Wednesday afternoon, after the question session to the government (QAG) scheduled for 2 p.m. to decide whether or not to censor of the Bayrou government.