To “provide answers to questions of purchasing power and wages”, Sébastien Lecornu announces the meeting on Monday in Matignon of a “social conference” with unions and employers

Sébastien Lecornu will convene a "social conference" with union and employer organizations on Monday in Matignon, his services announced Thursday during a day of demonstrations and strikes on purchasing power at the call of the unions. This conference aims to “provide answers to questions of purchasing power and wages”, specifies Matignon in a press release. In the meantime, Sébastien Lecornu asked the Minister of Labor Jean-Pierre Farandou "to finalize by Sunday the consultations he has been carrying out for several days" on these subjects, while the Minister of Action and Public Accounts David Amiel "continues his discussions with representatives of civil service agents", according to the same source.

CFDT and CGT officials again called on Thursday for a substantial increase in the minimum wage and, beyond that, for increases in wages overall. The leading French union, the CFDT, is demanding an increase in the minimum wage of 100 euros net, the CGT an increase of 10%, as well as the indexation of all salaries to prices. No additional boost since 2012 Jean-Pierre Farandou, who received the trade union and employer organizations in recent days, indicated on Tuesday that he had laid with them "the foundations of software" including work on the minimum wage.

The subject of an increase in the minimum wage is "not taboo" but the government must be attentive to the consequences of a possible increase on "employment", he warned on Tuesday. This work must be carried out, according to him, within professional branches, with conventional minimums sometimes lower than the minimum wage "which must be raised through negotiation", and obligatory annual negotiations in companies. The minimum wage undergoes automatic changes depending on the level of inflation but has not benefited from an additional boost since 2012.

The Minister of Relations with Parliament Laurent Panifous said Thursday that "there will perhaps be a measure on the minimum wage", leaving the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure to "probably announce it tomorrow" (Friday). After three consecutive Saturdays of mobilization against "the high cost of living", the unions called on employees in the public and private sectors to strike and demonstrate this Thursday to demand pay increases. A mobilization joined by young people, who have been protesting since mid-September against their study conditions, as well as by yellow vests.

Nearly 600,000 people marched on Thursday in France, including Paris, during this day, according to a provisional count from Beauvau at 5 p.m.

Machine-translated from French