Layoffs: "The State has the means to act but refuses to do so," assures Sophie Binet of the CGT

The unemployment rate in France, as defined by the International Labour Office (ILO), rose by 0.1 percentage points in the first quarter of 2025 to reach 7.4%, INSEE announced this Friday. "It will increase because there has been an acceleration, over the past year, of layoff plans and the government is in denial," lamented Sophie Binet , general secretary of the CGT union, on RMC-BFMTV .

Emmanuel Macron "explained on Tuesday that layoffs were a necessary evil. It's a huge problem, the state has the means to act but refuses to do so," she continued. The head of the union advocated for state aid to be conditional, particularly for companies that "make profits." "We could ban layoffs for companies that make profits," Sophie Binet suggested.

"When you close a factory or a public service, you elect the far right, and that's what Emmanuel Macron is doing," Sophie Binet also said. "That's why we're angry."

She also recalled that the CGT is calling for a "moratorium on layoffs" in order to "allow employees to build recovery projects with the public authorities."

On Thursday, ArcelorMittal ruled out abandoning the proposed plan to cut 636 jobs in France, in support functions and in production, but promised an investment in a first electric furnace at its Dunkirk site, for an amount of approximately 1.2 billion euros. "It's the balance of power that pays off," said Sophie Binet, who called for "great caution" regarding the steelmaker's announcements, which have not yet been ratified.

"We must stop being strong with the weak and weak with the strong," says Sophie Binet.

On Tuesday, the General Secretary of the CGT union urged the head of state, speaking to her on TF1, to nationalize ArcelorMittal. Emmanuel Macron dismissed this suggestion. "We continue to believe this is the best solution," she assured on Friday. "The state must transform its aid into capital investment in order to consider strategic decisions and regain control of steel production," Sophie Binet argued.

Still in order to preserve production and jobs in France and Europe, she again called on the government to "make customs duties conditional on the social and environmental standards" of companies and this "in order to protect the economy from social dumping." And to call again for wage increases, because the latter "have not returned to their 2020 level," which, according to her, explains the drop in consumption.