The general secretaries of the CFDT and the CGT, Laurent Berger and Philippe Martinez, reacted strongly on Friday to the remarks of Emmanuel Macron calling not to block the country on the pension reform, inviting in turn the government to show "
responsibility
".
During the night, the head of state said he was counting on
the “spirit of responsibility
” of the unions so that their movement against his disputed pension reform does not block “
the life of the rest of the country
”.
"
The call last night, I'm sorry to say, it's anachronistic
", decided on Franceinfo Laurent Berger.
“
Why are we being called today not to block the country?
(...) Excuse me, but hell, we are not responsible from the beginning?
“Launched the union official.
He recalled that there was no call
for a strike in rail transport on Saturday, the first day of the holidays in zone B.
account of this world of work which expresses a profound rejection of 64-year
-olds", he continued, calling, on the eve of a new day of mobilization, to "
put the work back on the job
", at the risk otherwise of
deep resentment
.
Read alsoIn the North, Elisabeth Borne tries to educate about pension reform
The Head of State “
likes to talk about pension reform when he is not in France
”, noted almost at the same time his CGT counterpart Philippe Martinez on Europe 1. “
We could return the courtesy to him: we are counting on the spirit of responsibility of the President of the Republic and the government so that we are not obliged to amplify the strikes and to have renewable strikes
”, he affirmed.
"
When there is such discontent in the country and we have a spirit of responsibility, well, we listen
," he added.
Laurent Berger has also strongly criticized the way in which the debates take place in parliament.
"
It would also be good for parliament to become something other than a fairground where we insult each other
," he said, calling for the debate to take place, particularly on the article 7 which raises the legal age from 62 to 64.
Read alsoIn the North, Elisabeth Borne tries to educate about pension reform
"
We have to discuss the substance (...).
I ask that the parliament do its job of examining the text (...) This article 7 will change the lives of employees
”, he underlined, without wanting to incriminate one camp rather than another.
He also again invited the employees to demonstrate in large numbers in the "
more than 250
" rallies throughout France.
"
To exceed the million demonstrators would be a great success
," he said.