This content was published on March 16, 2023 – 09:28 March 16, 2023 – 09:28 minutes
Paris, March 16th (EFE) warns the French trade unions.
“Think about the future of our workers, but also about our democracy,” Laurent Berger, general secretary of the French Democratic Trade Union Confederation (CFDT), urged in an interview with public broadcaster France Info on Thursday.
Hours ahead of the crucial but still uncertain votes that will take place today in the Senate and National Assembly to approve or not the controversial law, Berger stressed that even if the reform is passed, “there is a feeling that it will be unfair is to be endured” in French society.
Berger, who is one of the union leaders leading the movement against pension reform (although on other occasions the CFDT has backed reforms deemed necessary), believed that “sentiment of contempt is unfortunately being exploited by the populists and in particular by the extreme right”.
The union leader explained that this is an issue that workers’ representatives are “afraid of” because they know that what drives the extreme right are not “social” interests, but rather “identity” and ultra-nationalist issues that are prevalent in France embodied in particular by Marine Le Pen.
Regarding the unions’ strategy based on what is happening in the chambers of Parliament later in the day, Berger assured that the protest movement encouraged since the details of the reform were announced in January will continue even if the text is adopted, although it Demonstration conceded months is not a viable strategy.
The main axis of the reform driven by Macron is the shift of the minimum retirement age by two years from the current 62 to 64 years.
After an arduous first step through Parliament, a mixed Senate-National Assembly commission on Wednesday agreed on a joint version of the text, which must be validated in both chambers today.
The Senate vote, where the right wing holds the majority, is unlikely to be a stumbling block for the ruling party, but that in the National Assembly, which previously failed to vote on the entire bill at first reading, is expected despite support from Los Conservatives Republicanos get very close.
Meanwhile, various sectors of the economy are experiencing total or partial standstills today, and for example, 20% of flights at Orly airport in Paris are again canceled today due to a pilots’ strike. EFE
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