Unemployment insurance: Sophie Binet criticizes ‘violent’ reform that will ‘punish everyone’

The executive promises to “move towards full employment”; the CGT criticizes “violent” reform. The union’s general secretary, Sophie Binet, sharply criticized on Sunday on France Inter the statements of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who a few hours earlier spoke in detail about the new rules for unemployment insurance compensation, which will be tightened from December 1.

This reform will allow “work to be valued even more,” the head of government confirmed in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche. “This is the most brutal reform of unemployment insurance, which will punish absolutely everyone,” Sophie Binet retorted on France Inter.

The head of the CGT particularly criticized the reduction of the compensation period from 18 to 15 months for unemployed people under the age of 57 “in the current conditions”, that is, if the unemployment rate remains below 9%, said Gabriel Attal. “Fifteen months is very little time to rebuild a professional project after being fired, very little time to get training and find a job,” she said.

“Youth will pay a heavy price”

She also criticized the change in the criteria for opening unemployment rights: to receive compensation, you will need to work 8 months in the last 20 months, compared to 6 months in the last 24 months at present, the Prime Minister said. “Young people will pay a high price, many of them will no longer receive compensation,” warned Sophie Binet.

She said the reform would more broadly “punish the most vulnerable: seasonal workers, temporary workers, those working in festivals, agriculture, tourism, hospitality and catering.” There are so many sectors “in which precarious employment is the norm and in which we cannot work 12 months out of 12,” she noted. “This is the most brutal reform of the unemployment insurance system in seven years,” which will “punish more than a million people, especially young people, people in precarious work and the elderly,” the trade unionist said Thursday on BFMTV/RMC.

As for older adults, workers aged 53 and 54 can now be paid up to 22.5 months, and workers aged 55 and older can now be paid up to 27 months. From December 1, the first level will disappear, and the benefit for longer compensation will be retained for unemployed people aged 57 years and over.

“Older people, unfortunately, will also be very concerned, since this reform of unemployment insurance calls into question their specific compensation in the form of unemployment benefits, which allowed them to strengthen their unemployment rights,” Sophie Binet again criticized on Sunday on France Inter .

“Criminal” reform

Number 1 of the CGT has already called this reform “criminal” to Labor Minister Catherine Vautrin, according to Denis Gravouille, a member of the union’s confederal office and an unemployment insurance negotiator at the Montreuil central office. He also cited studies of the health of the unemployed and their communities, which show that “the suicide rate among the unemployed at the end of their entitlement is twice that of the employed population.”

Denis Gravouille also accused the government of being “entirely in the interests of employers”, following the lack of a solution so far on the bonus-malus system for short-term contracts, which was criticized by Medef. “The goal (is) financial,” “it is not an incentive, a return to employment, since there is no connection with the fact of a reduction in rights,” assessed for his part Olivier Guivarche, CFDT negotiator.

For his part, the Prime Minister retorted that this is not about “economic reform, but about prosperity and activity.” “The gain will be measured by the increase in the number of French people who will work. And, therefore, more funding for our system,” he assured. According to the Ministry of Labor, the government expects savings from the reform of 3.6 billion euros and predicts an increase in “the number of employed by 90,000 people.” According to CGT, tightening interconnection conditions alone would save $2.8 billion.