Pension reform: CFDT general secretary Marylise Léon wants “at the very least” a suspension of the law

Marylise Léon reaffirmed that this reform is “unfair”, while the new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, announced that he wanted to “open the debate” for an “improvement” of the text.

“We need to put all the issues on the table. We need to address the elephant in the room and that is the 64 years.”declared CFDT Secretary General Marylise Léon on France Inter on Sunday, September 8. While the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier announced that he wanted “open the debate” for a “improvement” of the controversial pension reform, the head of the CFDT demands “at least” a suspension of the reform before “discuss”.

“The idea is that argument against argument, we demonstrate that it is a profoundly unjust reform,” she explained. A supporter of a postponement of the legal age to 65 when he was a candidate in the LR primary in 2021, Michel Barnier refused to say whether he would return to the shift from 62 to 64 years included in the reform adopted in spring 2023.

“I imagine that when he takes on the role of Prime Minister, he listens to the people in front of him, tries to convince Marylise Léon, and asks the CFDT to demonstrate to him that the age gap is the most unfair lever.”. “Today, the world of work must tackle these issues of hardship and exposure to risks head on.”she added.

If in the presidential camp, it is recalled that a repeal of the pension reform would cost between 14 and 20 billion euros per year by 2030, “the budgetary argument is a convenient excuse”according to Marylise Léon. “I think that first of all we have political leaders who do not want to move on what they consider to have been a necessary reform and which they have carried out, which has created a lot of tension in the country”the unionist stressed.

According to her, “the presidential majority of the time” did “a refusal of obstacle” : “Rather than embarking on the path which was initially that of a retirement à la carte, by points, for convenience, they went on these 64 years without resolving a certain number of issues, notably social justice”. “But the result of the legislative elections is also the expression of this rejection of this profoundly unjust pension reform”she judged. “There is a responsibility on the part of social actors, whether they are unions or employers, to quickly sit around the table”she added.