Invitation from Borne to the unions: the CGT indicates that it will go to Matignon

The general secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet will go to Matignon on May 16 or 17, thus responding to the Prime Minister's invitation to the unions for bilateral talks, the CGT said on Saturday.

The Prime Minister sent these invitations on Friday for talks without a "specific agenda", which come after the promulgation of the highly contested pension reform and major demonstrations on May 1. “Sophie Binet will go to Elisabeth Borne”, told AFP a spokesperson for the CGT who had cast doubt on her participation in these exchanges.

The Prime Minister launched these invitations to the five representative unions - CFDT, CGT, FO-CFE-CGC and CFTC - a month after a meeting in Matignon with the inter-union opposed to the reform. The meeting was then cut short and the trade unions scheduled a new day of demonstrations on June 6.

CFDT boss Laurent Berger, who intends to accept the invitation, said Thursday that the "battle" against the pension reform was "not over". He notably launched an appeal to “all parliamentarians” who will examine on June 8 a bill from the independent group Liot aimed at repealing the postponement of the retirement age to 64 years. With regard to future interviews at Matignon, “we will have a method requirement” and “we would like to know if it is to negotiate, discuss or “blablater””, he said, before Matignon launched his invitations.