"Our red lines remain the same": Will unions and employers resume pension negotiations?

After four months of discussions, unions and employers have failed to reach an agreement on pension reform, but have around ten more days to try to reach an agreement.

Despite the failure of the pension reform meeting on Tuesday, June 24, François Bayrou refused to accept it and asked the social partners to resume their negotiations. According to the Prime Minister, there remain only " two points of disagreement ": arduous work and financing. He therefore gave the unions and employers about ten days to reach an agreement.

The goal, however, seems complicated for those primarily concerned. Returning to the negotiating table and further amending the text agreed on Tuesday evening... " That doesn't suit me at all ," declares François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC. " François Bayrou comes to tell us that we're not far from reaching an agreement. That's not true ," asserts the union representative.

The Prime Minister is inviting us to negotiate between the balanced text and the MEDEF's position. But that's out of the question! Let him address the employers!

François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC

to franceinfo

For its part, the CFTC is willing to discuss again, but without much conviction, and the CFDT has not yet made its decision. " Our red lines remain the same ," says Yvan Ricordeau, the negotiator from France's largest union. " The Prime Minister is putting the difficulties of the negotiation into perspective; the issue of hardship and the issue of financial stability were not just two points among the others ," he explains. " These are two knots that, for the moment, are insurmountable ."

" If everyone sticks to their red lines, they will never cross, " replies Éric Chevée, negotiator for the CPME. "That also applies to us ," he says, on the employers' side. For him, it is still possible to find a solution: " We have to see under what conditions we can move each other to ensure that we overcome this problem that is before us ."

Solutions that could emerge from behind-the-scenes discussions in the next two weeks. But Éric Chevée warns: " We're not going to do this for 107 years ." If the social partners stick to their guns, François Bayrou promises to take responsibility and propose a text this fall, submitting it to Parliament.