Contacts are being made one after another to re-establish ties that had been strained. Since the beginning of the school year, employers and unions have held several peaceful discussions, with a clear desire to be constructive. After the tensions generated by the failure in April of negotiations on employment for the elderly, the two sides seem once again eager to talk and overcome their antagonisms.
One of their main concerns is to show that they are responsible actors, capable of reaching agreements, unlike, according to them, political groups, which are more inclined to tear each other apart than to seek the general interest. So many initiatives launched at a time when the collaborators of Prime Minister Michel Barnier are, from Monday 16 September, in turn receiving workers’ and employers’ organisations.
The relaunch of debates between social partners has just been illustrated by a very unusual scenario: the participation of Medef in the Fête de HumanityThe trade union meeting took place from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 September in Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne). On Saturday afternoon, Patrick Martin, the number one in the employers’ movement, debated Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, for almost an hour and three quarters. The confrontation took place under a packed tent, with an audience overwhelmingly supportive of the trade unionist and, for the most part, respectful of the president of the Medef, apart from a few brief boos.
“Frank dialogue”
If Mr. Martin threw himself into the wolf’s den, it was in the name of “deep conviction” that representatives of workers and employers must engage in parliament, “accepting their disagreements”but without falling into “dangerous game of anathema, insult and fracture”he said shortly after the end of the match.me Binet thanked his opponent for accepting a moment of “frank dialogue”. “I have heard your call to reopen negotiations”He added, alluding to Martin’s desire, expressed on 26 August, to resume negotiations on the employment of older people which had failed in April. He notes: “I think that your presence here fits into this framework.”
In a mocking tone, the head of the CGT proposed to the business leader to immediately start the talks, at the Fiesta de Huma : “I have a pen, so that’s good. I hope you have the checkbook and everything will be fine.”he said in front of a laughing audience. A touch of humour to liven up the exchanges that the two protagonists had visibly prepared with great seriousness, given the precision of their respective arguments.
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