“We are not here for a yellow coin operation”: unions intensify pressure on the government for an increase in the minimum wage

Could a boost to the minimum wage calm social anger? A few hours before a new mobilization this Thursday, November 5, leaders of the CFDT and the CGT have once again called for a substantial increase in the minimum wage and, beyond that, increases in wages overall.

Interprofessional unions are calling for demonstrations or strikes on Thursday to demand pay increases. A mobilization joined by young people who have been protesting since mid-September against their study conditions, as well as by yellow vests.

“We are asking for 100 euros net per month” increase for the minimum wage, argued Marylise Léon, general secretary of the CFDT, on BFMTV, estimating that “there is a strong expectation for a truly significant gesture”.

“France is the European country which has increased its minimum wage the least in ten years. We are now a country of low wages,” denounced Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, on LCI.

The minimum wage is the only one in France to change automatically according to inflation, and the government would be tempted to increase it to a slightly higher level and before the January 1 deadline. It has not benefited from a boost beyond inflation since 2012.

The Minister of Relations with Parliament Laurent Panifous affirmed Thursday on franceinfo that “there will perhaps be a measure on the minimum wage”, leaving the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure to “probably announce it” on Friday.

But “when we see the explosion in the cost of living, it is not +0.6% on the minimum wage that will meet” expectations, warned Sophie Binet. “We are not here for a yellow coin operation,” quipped the head of the CGT.

Beyond the minimum wage, Marylise Léon like Sophie Binet are demanding salary increases. “There is not only the minimum wage in life (...), when the company can, it must be able to respond to this request for a salary increase,” declared Marylise Léon, believing “that there is room for maneuver and possibilities to work on much more social justice”.

“We call for the immediate opening of negotiations on salaries in all companies and in all branches, employers must take their responsibilities,” said Sophie Binet.

In recent years, due to increases in the minimum wage without renegotiations of the scales in the branches, the lowest salaries have been exceeded by the minimum wage. But for the president of the employers' organization Les Entrepreneurs, Amir Reza-Tofighi, employers "cannot at the same time [support an increase in] labor costs and at the same time increase wages."

“All salaries which are above the minimum wage risk not increasing because companies will not have the means to follow the evolution of the minimum wage,” he declared on RTL.

“I don’t deny that there are a number of small businesses that are in great difficulty,” Marylise Léon conceded, “but there are businesses that are doing very well and that are not playing the game of salary negotiation.”