All the unions of France Travail denounced on Tuesday the draft budget 2025 which provides for the elimination of 500 jobs at the public operator, believing that “the cup is full”, and most of the organizations announce a strike for 5 December.
During a rare joint press conference, the ten unions of France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) – CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT, FO, FSU, SNAP, Sud, STC, Unsa – expressed their “concern” for the workforce but also the purchasing power of approximately 54,000 agents or the greater use of outsourcing, while the financial law is currently being examined by Parliament.
“We are already not enough (…), with a changing economic situation,” said a representative of the former Soviet Union, while most economists expect unemployment to rise.
If the government has proposed a “stabilized” financing for France Travail of 1.35 billion euros, the unions point out that this does not take into account inflation, which in reality implies “a mechanical reduction”, according to them.
Other reasons for concern highlighted by the unions: the law on “full employment”, which provides in particular that the beneficiaries of the RSAs are all automatically registered with France Travail – which will increase the burden on consultants -, and the upcoming reform of the unemployment insurance.
On the salary front, both public law and private law agents are in difficulty, underlined an elected FO, citing for the latter an increase of 5.5% since 2018 against an inflation of +16.3% .
Several representatives believe that “the cup is full.”
The unions have launched a petition and eight of them have launched a call to strike on 5 December, the CFDT and the CFE-CGC, essentially believing that this call comes “a little too soon”.