French unions to meet with government over pension reform

Nearly all of France’s trade unions have agreed to meet with French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne next week, though the government has said it will not change its position on its contested pension reform. The changes have not been implemented, pending a decision by the Constitutional Council on 14 April.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in his first public appearance in France in two months, said Thursday that “dialogue continues” with trade unions who oppose the government’s pension reform.

For the first time since the legislation to extend the number of people needed to work to receive a pension, and increase the minimum legal retirement age to 64, trade unions were invited to meet with the government.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne extended the invitation on Wednesday, the day after a tenth day of strike and protest against the reform brought tens of thousands of people into the streets.

Dialogue … on what?

The government has said it will stand firm on the pension reform, though it is willing to talk to unions on other topics.

Laurent Berger, the head of the CFDT union, said Wednesday that he would go to the meeting on 5 April to reiterate his demand that the bill be suspended.

“Unions are not going to go to discuss something else,” he told Franceinfo public media. “I will go to explain that this reform is a dead-end.”

Minister of parliamentary relations, Franck Riester, and the head of the centrist MoDem party, François Bayrou, warned Wednesday that the new minimum retirement age of 64 years old was not up for negotiation.

The left-wing CGT, which is meeting this week in Clermont-Ferrand to elect a new leader who will take over from Philippe Martinez, has yet to respond to the invitation, with some saying it will be a waste of time.

More strikes

Unions have called for another strike and protest day for 6 April, and turnout may depend on the outcome of the talks.

Opinion polls show a vast majority of voters oppose the pension bill and back the protests.

The bill was passed on 16 March by the government, which used the constitution’s Article 49.3 to bypass a parliamentary vote. But Macron has held off implementing it until a review by the Constitutional Council.