A demonstration is to take place this Saturday January 7 in Dijon
Credit: K6FM Photo Archive
Below is the press release from the “Solidaires 21” union:
Fuel is close to 2 euros. Food prices are skyrocketing (nearly 25% increase for pasta in 2022). Gas and electricity will soon increase by 15% and even more for associations and businesses. Rents are rising everywhere, even among social landlords. Tolls will increase. Everything increases except income. There is an urgent need to offset the burden of inflation on our lives: more and more of us are having serious difficulty making ends meet. We must be able to live with dignity: we want to live, not survive. Meanwhile, dividends paid by CAC40 companies reached a record €57.5 billion in 2021 and will increase further in 2022, as illustrated by record dividends from TotalEnergies group. Furthermore, the latter continues to destroy the planet, particularly through destructive projects in Uganda and Tanzania, even as the year 2022 just broke all heat records.
Faced with this unsustainable situation proposed by the Borne/Macron government?
After spending the last five years fighting social pseudo-fraud (between 1 billion and 3 billion euros) by setting up a generalized control of precarious workers rather than fighting tax evasion (between 80 and 100 billion euros), the government has now decided to make precarious workers even more precarious with the help of his counter-reform of layoffs and the “anti-squat” bill. In fact, the government has once again struck down rights by imposing the principle of “anti-cyclicality” which makes the duration of the payment of benefits depend on the state of the labor market. Clearly, the more jobs there are, the smaller the amount of benefits will be. That’s not all, the fact of twice refusing a CDI after an interim mission or the end of a CDD which will also deprive the person who refuses of unemployment benefits. Finally, the government also intends to reconsider the duration of the benefit for the unemployed over 55 years of age. Which plunges once again into the misery of so many employees and the unemployed who, given their age, will have no chance of finding a job.
These new regressions fit perfectly with the announced pension counter-reform and the extension of the statutory retirement age to 65. Indeed, Prime Minister Borne announced a gradual postponement from 62 to 65 until 2031, legitimizing all this once again, from the financial balance of the system (after having changed the reason justifying this reform twice). As usual, all this will be sprinkled with scoops sold as positives for women and the elderly or small pensions. The Prime Minister speaks of the stand-by of the discount at 67, of a relaxation of the early departure for long careers, of the possible extension of the onerousness criteria, of the consideration of parental leave in calculating the contribution period. ..and to move towards a minimum pension (if in full career) at 85% of the Smic (1300 euros at the date of entry into force of the reform). This government is therefore sticking to raising the retirement age to 65 and is phasing out all special schemes (via grandfather-mother clauses) and we are a long way from real measures to end the 40% difference in pensions for women compared to men, and to get out of the logic of the impoverishment of pensioners! For Solidaires 21, extending the contribution period and raising the retirement age are not an option. Work more to earn less and small pensions, no!
To top it all off and mislead public opinion, the government engages in a dirty immigration debate to decide who is good and who is bad. Yet another useless and racist law that has the merit of highlighting the true face of this government. The “scapegoat” policy must end. Faced with this unsustainable situation, we are calling for a demonstration on Saturday 7 January 2023, from 2pm on Place Darcy, to demand a decent life and oppose the pension reform! We invite all actors of the social movement and citizens to take part and participate in this event.
