TUESDAY June 6 is scheduled, at the call of the national inter-union, which will be the fourteenth day of national strike in France against the pension reform since last January, says the Solidaires French union federation.
Solidaires continued: ‘The proven goal is to influence the vote of the deputies, two days later, of a bill aimed at repealing part of the pension reform by resetting the legal retirement age again at 62 instead of 64 from September 1st.
‘That union unity and mobilisation continue, we can only congratulate ourselves!
‘That the vote in question succeeds also the case so much the political crisis and the discredit of the power are obvious.
‘If we want, after a historic 1st of May, to strike a blow, we must give ourselves the means!
‘Wouldn’t it be time to come together as many as possible on the same days, times and places to show that the popular will that is being heard, including with great fanfare, throughout the country must eventually prevail? … or they all go away!
‘Mobilisation is also, like a hundred new members already this year, strengthening our union, with a fully democratic functioning where it is the grassroots structures that decide, to grow, here and now, social progress.’
Fellow union federation Force Ouvriere (FO) responded to an invitation for talks with Macron government ministers.
The union federation stated: ‘If FO received on May 16, responded to the invitation of the Prime Minister, like the other trade union organisations, for bilateral meetings, (FO general secretary) Frédéric Souillot reaffirmed the continuity of the fight against the pension reform for which FO is asking, with the inter-union, repeal.
‘FO has also brought numerous claims. Thus on wages, including the minimum wage, on collective bargaining, on employment and its consideration in the context of the ecological transition, on the end of careers and hardship, on the conditionality of public aid to companies, on the refusal of reforms which attack the rights, on the public services and the need for means with the height.
‘On all these files and many others, FO carries its determined voice.’
A completely
hypothetical dialogue
‘The meeting was courteous, but firm. Frédéric Souillot thus gave the Prime Minister a badge bearing the mention withdrawal, to clearly indicate to her the position of the trade union organisation with regard to the pension reform.
‘The executive’s (Macron government’s) roadmap aimed at “social appeasement” is not a given and FO carries and will firmly carry its demands.
‘If FO agreed to meet the Prime Minister on May 16, the confederation is still asking for the repeal of the pension reform.
‘Moreover, recalling its demands on the place to be given back to collective bargaining, FO has always opposed the straitjacket of the “framing” , or a form of diktat from the executive.
‘Upstream of the bilaterals, Elisabeth Borne had suggested that the unions would be invited “to set their autonomous social agenda”, i.e. the rhythm and content of the discussions between the employee unions and the employers.
‘While strongly suggesting certain subjects, including the arduousness not dealt with in the reform.
‘More broadly, in recent months, excluding even pensions, the points of protest have already accumulated.
‘Thus on Unemployment Insurance whose reform FO still condemns. And it opposes conditioning the RSA to working hours as part of the full employment bill, which is due to arrive in early June.
‘The project, indicated the Prime Minister on May 13, will provide for sanctions against people who do not respect what the government calls “support”.
‘Such reforms are carried out on the backs of job seekers and employees, in the name of reducing public deficits, the government continues to multiply gifts to companies, and without compensation.
‘This is evidenced by the numerous reductions in social security contributions or the abolition from 2023 (over two years) of the CVAE, a contribution on the added value of companies.
‘In addition, on May 11, Emmanuel Macron, as part of his announcement of a new reindustrialisation plan, mentioned the “green industry” tax credit project for businesses. FO will continue to demand that public aid, plethoric, to companies (more than 150 billion euros per year) be conditioned, with counterparties in terms of jobs and wages.
The urgency of wage increases
‘If Elisabeth Borne urges the branches to negotiate on wages, for FO, the results are not up to par. While high inflation has been raging for more than a year, in most cases the hikes barely cover it. FO also insists, and particularly since last summer, on the need for a return to a sliding salary scale mechanism, i.e. to pass on an increase at all levels of a salary scale, which means guaranteeing the differences between the levels and avoid settling of the grate.
‘FO is also campaigning for a massive boost to the Smic so that it reaches at least 80% of median salary. The executive still refuses to do so, confining itself to the strict automatic revaluation of the Smic on inflation. Very insufficient. As he refuses to revalue the value of the index point of public officials. The increase in wages and employment are for FO however the priority subjects, which should have been seen before imposing an unjust, unjustified and brutal pension reform.
‘Because who says employment and higher wages means more revenue for our collective social protection, therefore for our pension schemes. The reform, imposed by an equally brutal 49-3, was therefore not justified “if the government had taken the subjects by the right end”, as indicated last night, on leaving Matignon,’ said Frédéric Souillot.
- Strikes among confectionery employees in Germany are planned for June after the Food-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG) union rejected the latest pay offer in a second round of talks.
The NGG union said the pay offer on Monday (15 May) from the Federal Association of the Confectionery Industry (BDSI) representative body was ‘inadequate’.
Workers employed by local sweets giant Haribo, Nestlé and privately-owned confectionery maker Bahlsen will go on strike next month unless a new deal can be reached.
NGG said in a statement it is now ‘starting the strike preparations’ from June. A spokesperson said a third round of negotiations was not planned at this stage and the strike would go ahead regardless.
Freddy Adjan, deputy NGG chairman, said in the statement: ‘The situation of many employees has long been precarious given the extreme price increases. They expect real relief and significantly more money, not peanuts. We will now start a wave of strikes the likes of which this industry has never seen before.’
Adjan described the wage package as a ‘completely inadequate offer’.
He added: ‘Without calculation tricks, the bottom line is that employers are offering a wage increase of 3.8% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024. As a result, they do not meet the expectations of employees either in terms of amount or duration.
NGG is demanding a shorter pay package over 12 months, including 500 euros a month for ‘lower tariff’ workers in the A to E wage brackets, and 400 euros for all other wage groups. It is asking for 200 euros a month for trainees along with a travel allowance of 50 euros a month.
BDSI said in a statement that confectionery employers in Germany have offered workers ‘inflation compensation premiums’ amounting to 1,000 euros ($1,083) for 2023 and a further 500 euros for next year. Staff across all wage groups would also get a fixed monthly pay increase of just 125 euros this year and 100 euros in 2024.
- Earlier this month, the largest trade union in the Netherlands indicated there will be more strike action in the confectionery sector following disquiet at Mars and Perfetti Van Melle.
Employees at a beverage company in eastern Germany that produces the country’s popular Vita Cola among other drinks, went on strike because more than 30 years after the country’s reunification their salaries are still significantly lower than that of employees working for their parent company in western Germany.
Seventy workers at Waldquell in Schmalkalden in Thuringia walked out of their jobs on Tuesday bringing the production of beverages such as mineral waters, lemonades, and Vita Cola, which tastes similar to Coca-Cola, to a halt for several hours.
A trade union representative said that employees at the Thuringia company currently make 195 euros ($211) per month less than their colleagues at the parent company, Hassia, in Hesse state, and also have to work two more hours per week.
In addition, an inflation compensation bonus that was offered to the workforce at Waldquell was to be just under 1,000 euros less than at the parent company.
