Offensive on pensions: union leaders must leave the negotiating table!

Photo credits: Le Dauphiné Libéré

A week after a first meeting at the end of which the Minister of Labor had confirmed that a forced passage on the pension reform was not excluded, the union leaders were again received by Olivier Dussopt on Monday. On the program, in particular, a discussion on the COR report published last Thursday.

And once again the meeting, in which the representatives of employers also participated, looks like a real humiliation. At the exit, all the union leaders thus explained that the idea of ​​reforming pensions through an amendment to the Social Security Financing Bill intended to be voted on at 49.3 in the fall “ was not ruled out “.

” We felt that Olivier Dussopt was prowling the elements of language to pass a measure quickly explained Benoît Teste, the leader of the FSU. The only alternative to forceful passage, according to BFM-TV the government would have put on the table the possibility of a ” consultation but which should be completed quickly to allow the reform to enter into force by the summer of 2023.

Clearly, the government maintains in all cases its desire for a brutal reform, at a more or less rapid pace and with more or less appearance of dialogue. In a very provocative way, Olivier Dussopt affirmed this Sunday without detour: ” we have to work more “.

At the end of a meeting in which it already seemed crazy to participate, the union leaders once again contented themselves with waving their arms without offering the slightest perspective. The palme d’or for this masquerade goes to the management of FO and the UNSA who refused to call for mobilization on September 29 but promised that ” [le gouvernement les] will find on its way » for the first and « extremely strong reactions ” for the latter, as well as to the CFDT which promises ” a frontal opposition even… to withdraw from the National Council for Refoundation.

However, the picture is not much rosier on the side of the CGT, which threatens to ” enter into social confrontation ” and of ” immediately cut off all discussions with the government. “While Macron is trying to convince his troops of the need to strike us hard and fast, it is however now that we should confront it.

By pursuing the social dialogue despite the repeated snubs, the union leaderships are giving food for thought to the government and its counter-reforms. As such, the meeting made it possible to announce the beginning of a consultation on the reform of unemployment insurance in which all the trade union leaders, however upset they may be, seem ready to participate.

Contrary to this logic which disarms us, the time should be to build a battle plan around offensive slogans, not only to make the government pack up its counter-reforms, but also to face the crisis. current situation, for example through real increases in wages, pensions and social minima and their indexation to inflation.

Macron is stepping up the pace, there is an urgent need to react. This implies starting by making September 29 a real day of strike, which mobilizes different sectors, effectively blocks production and makes it possible to lay the groundwork for a response to the government. The current attitude of union leaders shows that imposing this perspective will be a struggle.