Trade unions dispute his statements. If, concerning the flagship measures of the reform, the president says rather true, proposals in terms of employment of seniors and financing of the system have nevertheless been put forward.
A spade addressed to the unions opposed to the pension reform. During his interview with the “13 hours” of France 2 and TF1, Wednesday March 22, Emmanuel Macron not only defended the merits of the text. For his first speech since the use of article 49.3 by Elisabeth Borne to have the reform adopted, he also denounced the attitude of his opponents. “I regret that no union force has offered a compromise” during discussions with the social partners, affirmed the Head of State. Enough to make the organizations in question jump, which have denounced “contempt”of “making fun of” and “lies”.
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According to Erik Meyer, federal secretary of the Sud-Rail union, interviewed by franceinfo, “it is the government that has refused any compromise on financing and the sharing of the effort between capital, companies and employees”. “We all had the will to reach a compromise with the government on employment and wages, we said to wait, to see how the labor market reacts”for his part, deplored the confederal secretary of the Force Ouvrière union Michel Beaugas, on franceinfo. Is the Head of State saying true or fake?
No trade union compromise? Not that easy
To find out, a preliminary detour through the dictionary is essential. The president used the term “compromise” which, according to Le Robert, means “an arrangement in which mutual concessions are made”. No motion of no confidence on the side of Larousse which speaks of a “action that involves reciprocal concessions”. In retrospect, a compromise could have been discussed from October 2022, when the eight national trade union organizations were preparing to take part in the consultation on government reform.
Even before a bill was tabled, the unions opposed the first outlines of the reform, starting with a postponement of the legal retirement age. Initially committed to a limit of 65 years, the government lowered this threshold to 64 years, above all to convince Les Républicains (LR) in the hope of finding a majority in the National Assembly to vote for the reform. No question either, for the unions, to extend the contribution period. Yet this is what the government wants to do, by accelerating the extension of the contribution period required to benefit from a full pension, voted in 2014 via the Touraine reform.
On these two central points, no common ground has been found between the unions and the government in recent months. So, strictly speaking, Emmanuel Macron’s assertion is correct. No concessions were made by the unions. They did not change their position and remained united in their rejection of these two measures. Their watchword has always been the “withdrawal” of the text, even if on certain aspects of the reform, the two camps were able to agree. In October, Unsa proposed the creation of a senior index, like the government. The CFDT also agreed with this measure, judging it however “far below the stakes” in the employment of seniors.
A difficult dialogue
Nevertheless, the words of the Head of State can be nuanced. If a compromise implies a reciprocity of concessions, these have not emerged on the side of the executive either, at the request of the unions. The government has never agreed to reverse the postponement of the legal retirement age to 64. Nor on the extension of the contribution period. Two measures that he has always considered necessary, not wanting to lower pensions or increase contributions. Concessions have indeed been made by the government, but above all following requests from the LR party, in particular on long careers or pensions for mothers.
In the absence of a compromise on the key provisions of the text, the unions nevertheless proposed options for financing the pension system over the long term. The CGT, for example, has calculated that a 5% increase in private salaries and the end of wage inequalities between women and men would free up 9 and 5.5 billion euros respectively for pensions. The CFDT and the CFTC proposed for their part to fight against unemployment among seniors, by introducing more training after the age of 45 or through the introduction of restrictive measures in terms of employment for seniors. The increase in social security contributions for employers or employees with high incomes was also mentioned, in particular by the CGT and Unsa. So many ideas rejected by the majority.
“The CFDT (…) proposed other possible sources of financing once we understood that the President of the Republic and the government wanted to go on a postponement of the age”, summarized Laurent Berger on France Inter, Wednesday. “Before that, we had proposed to start again on a universal pension system which is perhaps a little simpler than what had been sketched out in 2019”, he continued. A way of recalling that the union agreed with the idea of a reform of the point-based pension system, as Emmanuel Macron wanted in 2019. A time that seems distant.