“We must stop considering that work is a cost”, insists the boss of the CFDT Marylise Léon

The general secretary of the CFDT recalls that “smicards” are “mainly women” and represent “17% of the active population”, “a figure which has never been reached for 20 years”.

“We must stop considering that work is a cost”insists Friday April 19 on franceinfo the general secretary of the CFDT Marylise Léon, who calls on the government to “stop low-cost social policies” if he wants to hope “de-microcardize France”as Prime Minister Gabriel Attal promised during his general policy last January.

The boss of the CFDT recalls that “Smicards are mainly women, at 57% and they make up 17% of the active population today, which is enormous and a figure that has never been reached for 20 years”. “We’re talking about home help, we’re talking about people in catering, hotels, security. We need these professions”, she insists. She therefore wants us to really question “how can we ensure that we can live with dignity from our work?”

The answer is clear, for the CFDT, “it means stopping low-cost social policies, with companies that are completely fed on public aid, exemptions from contributions and which do not have a salary policy worthy of the name”in particular because these companies “do not want to increase salaries by saying that they will have a threshold crossing effect and that it will cost them far too much”. This is therefore the sign, according to Marylise Léon, “that economic policy is not working”.

Companies must recognize the work

She therefore calls for “stop considering work to be a cost” and asks that companies “recognize work, recognize skills” and that they “allows you to have real career development prospects”.

She finds Michelin’s approach “interesting”which offers to pay its employees a salary “decent”i.e. 1.5 to 3 times the minimum wage, even if “that doesn’t make Michelin a social example on all subjects either”with “current difficulties in negotiating the sharing of value created in the group”she tempers.

On the other hand, she finds “totally indecent” the salary of Carlos Tavares, the boss of the Stellantis group (to which Peugeot notably belongs), which should be set at 36.5 million euros. “We are talking about a person who, as manager of his company, receives a salary which must recognize his work and here, I do not understand how it can reach these amounts”she concludes.