The €1,502 minimum wage did not deter the CGT from announcing another strike day

Sébastien Lecornu was not convinced. The number 1 of the CGT, Sophie Binet, called this Monday, November 9, "all employees, retirees, young people" to make November 17 a new major day of strike and demonstration, shortly after the Prime Minister's announcement of an increase in the minimum wage to 1,502 euros. The measure did not convince the union center, which did not hesitate to make it known.

“He announced to us a 23 euro increase in the minimum wage on December 1st when we know that a priori the minimum wage should automatically increase by 18 euros on January 1st,” squeaked Sophie Binet, referring to “crumbs”. In this context, it is not surprising that the head of the CGT, which you can listen to again below, called for a new day of strike at the end of the social conference which was held in Matignon.

An inter-union in the public service had already called for mobilization and a strike next Tuesday to demand in particular salary increases, according to a press release released this Monday. “As long as wages do not increase, as long as we do not have a response to our demands, the mobilization will continue. Now, negotiations must open everywhere. They must lead to salary increases,” declared Sophie Binet.

Even if the tone was less abrupt, the announcements on the minimum wage did not convince the CFDT either. Its secretary general, Marylise Léon, estimated this Monday that the increase was “insufficient”, welcoming however that “for the first time”, a certain amount of aid to businesses is conditional on sector negotiations.

Unsurprisingly, the announcement on the minimum wage was not to the taste of employers' organizations. This decision is “an additional constraint for companies which already have to face the economic slowdown, inflation, and an increase in labor costs provided for in the social security finance bill,” lamented Michel Picon, president of the Union of local businesses and businesses (U2P).

“We call on our professional branches to initiate salary negotiations,” declared the president of Entrepreneurs (ex-CPME), Amir Reza-Tofighi, but “we cannot ask companies to pay more employer contributions, to increase salaries and at the same time to face an economic crisis,” he said.

For his part, Sébastien Lecornu defended the revaluation of the minimum wage by 1.6% on December 1 as “the second largest increase in 20 years”, presenting it as a “boost” which “is not only symbolic” in an attempt to calm social anger. “I think we should not despise” this increase, declared the Prime Minister during a press conference, assuring that it will “not be a source of job destruction”.

Machine-translated from French