Lecornu minimum wage and student protests in France, Digi Mart USA News (France): Less than six months before the presidential election, demonstrations continue to spread across France. Social anger is intense, particularly over rising fuel prices following the war between the United States and Iran, and high school students are keeping pressure on the government.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is leading efforts this Monday to calm the situation. He is set to hold a social conference with labor partners at Matignon in the morning, then meet representatives of high school and university students in the afternoon, ahead of a first committee meeting on reform of the Parcoursup university admissions system.
Lecornu has promised “concrete responses,” but without financial room to maneuver, his task appears difficult. He can give a boost to the minimum wage (SMIC), which falls under his authority, but he does not control other wages and has left those matters to labor and employer groups.
In a letter to unions and employers on Friday, he said he heard “expectations” on purchasing power as well as “concerns” from employers about jobs.
Civil service unions were not invited to the conference and will be received separately by Lecornu on Friday. Laurent Escure, national secretary of the Unsa union, warned that by segmenting his responses between employees and students, or between the private and public sectors, the prime minister “deprives himself of a breath of momentum” and risks letting the social movement take hold over the long term.
Michel Picon, president of the Union of Local Businesses (U2P), said his members would not accept a minimum wage increase unless the “tax vise” on businesses eases. The government is considering several options, including bringing forward the automatic December 1 minimum wage increase to replace the January 1 date, and a gesture on the energy voucher (chèque énergie) for low-income households.
The measure on the minimum wage is unlikely to meet union demands: the CFDT asks for a net increase of 100 euros, and the CGT about 150 euros. Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou has said he wants the net minimum wage to pass 1,500 euros, up from the current 1,478 euros, but will not propose an increase that could “harm employment.” Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France Insoumise, called the proposal “a joke,” saying an automatic January adjustment to 1,495 euros net would add only five euros, “not even enough to buy a sandwich.”
Discontent is therefore likely to continue in the streets. Without waiting for the outcome of the social conference, an intersyndical group bringing together high school, student and teacher organizations has called for a new day of demonstrations on Tuesday.
