Salary increases, public services, 'tax justice'... What are the union demands for the November 5 strike?

“The anger is immense” and “the situation in the country is fragile”, warn the union representatives. The world of work is called to join the high school and student mobilizations, Thursday, November 5, during a day of strikes, walkouts and demonstrations in the country. This mobilization concerns the private as well as the public and aims to denounce the cost of living as well as the savings measures planned in the 2027 draft budget, while the meeting held between members of the government and the unions in Matignon on October 21 on the issue did not satisfy the union organizations.

This call also follows a first day of mobilization of the world of work, which only concerned the civil service, on September 29. Also read Blockages of high schools and universities, November 5 strike, yellow vest demonstrations… What are the mobilizations planned this week? “We want two things: salary increases everywhere (...

) and a revision of the government's draft budget which, as it stands, is catastrophic for the country", summarized Monday the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, guest of "4 Vérités", on France 2. "It will be a great day of convergence with the private sector employees who will be present, the civil servants, the retirees, the young people", she further warned. The call to mobilize on November 5 was launched by an inter-union bringing together the CFDT, the CGT, FO, Unsa and FSU from the beginning of October, while the high school mobilization was gaining momentum in the country.

All the unions then joined this call for mobilization. For a salary increase "in all companies" According to the unions, who spoke with one voice in a press release published on October 5, the government, in its draft 2027 budget examined by Parliament, "is attacking in particular the most precarious and the sick by freezing social benefits and reducing the protective role of social security". They also denounce the reduction in resources "allocated to public services" as well as the freezing of civil servants' index points, measures also contained in this draft budget.

Also read How the government once again wants to use public sector agents to make savings in the 2027 budget In detail, the inter-union listed seven demands in its press release. In particular, she calls for a revaluation “of all social assistance”. Concerning salaries, she calls for "the immediate opening in all companies and in all branches of negotiations to increase salaries and achieve equal pay" between women and men, but also "the increase in retirees' pensions", "the increase in the value of the index point of civil servants and measures to upgrade careers in the civil service" as well as the increase in the minimum wage (smic).

This last point was raised during the meeting held on October 21 with the unions in Matignon. The government then "opened the door" to "a discussion around the minimum wage", reported the president of the CFTC, Cyril Chabanier. An exceptional boost for the nearly 2 million people on minimum wage in the country is "not taboo", but the question is not settled, for his part estimated Jean-Pierre Farandou, Minister of Labor and Solidarity, a few days later on France Inter.

Machine-translated from French