“Increasing wages means relaunching the economy,” defends Sophie Binet, who calls on employees to mobilize on November 5

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the interview above. Click on the video to watch it in full. Francis Letellier: At the dawn of a week that promises to be crucial on the social front, it begins with a first test: will high school students and students return to class?

There are already blockages everywhere in Paris, Lille and Toulouse. You yourself have followed what has happened in recent days around students and high school students with the government announcing, for example, to review Parcoursup, limiting it to 28 students per class. Do you consider that there is progress?

Sophie Binet: It is a decision that belongs to high school and university students. I think they only ask for one thing: to be able to study in good conditions. The government has made initial announcements.

He is starting to backtrack on a certain number of provisions, notably Parcoursup. But what high school students and students are saying is that the account is not there and that they are waiting for much clearer announcements. Postponing the end of Parcoursup to 2028 when this government will no longer be there, the commitment is not serious.

It has to be from 2027 and above all that the government commits very clearly to saying that it is putting an end to all selection at university entrance. You will probably find high school students and students alongside you, in the streets next Thursday, November 5, all the unions are calling for a big day of mobilization, also a strike around purchasing power, in particular the defense of public services. Do you expect a big mobilization?

This is the objective, November 5 must be a great day of convergence. What does that mean? Because the last big mobilizations where all the unions were together were, for example, retirements in 2023.

There were more than 2 million people claimed by the unions on the streets. Will we be there? It is the employees who will decide.

The mobilization against pension reform was an exceptional level in our social history. Who says exceptional says that we don't get there every day. All indicators are green for the success of November 5.

It will be a great day of convergence with private sector employees who will be present, civil servants, retirees, young people. It’s all the union organizations that are calling. Our objective is clear.

We want two things. The first, salary increases. That means an immediate increase in the minimum wage of 10%, not some crap like what the government is offering us.

Machine-translated from French