The unemployment issue is once again straining relations between the unions and the executive. The general secretary of the CFDT, Marylise Léon, expressed her concern on Monday, like her CGT counterpart Sophie Binet, about “Act II of the labor market reform” announced by the head of the the state.
“I say to myself: ‘But what have the unemployed done to Macron?’ », launched Marylise Léon on FranceTVinfo, questioned about Emmanuel Macron’s announcements, in Davos last week, of a new “tightening of unemployment insurance rules”.
The CGT indicates its red line
“I don’t know what he’s talking about”, “there have been four successive reforms of unemployment insurance, the conditions of access to the scheme have been drastically reduced, the amount of benefits, the duration of compensation […]. It can go further, but this is certainly not the answer”, the problems of full employment being “not the fault of the unemployed”, continued the general secretary of the CFDT.
“The CGT is extremely worried,” Sophie Binet said almost at the same time on LCI. “If once again it is a question of calling into question the rights of workers […] and to trample on the opinion of the trade union organizations, it will be a casus belli for the CGT,” she warned.
During a first meeting Monday morning, the new Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity, Catherine Vautrin, indicated to Sophie Binet that “nothing would be undertaken in parallel with the negotiations currently open” on the employment of seniors, the union leader reported to AFP. “I understood that potentially, it would be after mid-March or the end of March”, the expected date of the end of the negotiations, she added, repeating that “the CGT would refuse any further setback for the rights of workers. deprived of employment and the rights of employees linked in particular to changes in thresholds.
The CFDT wants “targeted aid” for electricity
Regarding the angry movement of farmers, the leaders of the first two trade union organizations have also warned of ecological issues. Saying she understood the “dismay” of farmers and evoking “inflammable terrain”, Marylise Léon nevertheless called for being “extremely vigilant to the fact that we must not lose focus, the need we have to move towards a “ecological” transition”. “The answer cannot come from a lowering of environmental standards or from a few rebates”, also warned Sophie Binet, advocating “an overall debate”.
As for the increase in the price of electricity announced on February 1, it “will put households in great difficulty”, noted the head of the CGT, calling for a return to “regulated prices”. For Marylise Léon, the “tariff shield” should persist with “targeted aid” “for those who need it and who cannot absorb this increase”.