opposed to pension reform, a mayor offers his agents half a day
Marc Péré, mayor of the town of L’Union (Haute-Garonne), opposes the pension reform carried out by the government. On January 31, the city council offers half a day to its agents so that they have the possibility of participating in the strike.
On January 19, Marc Péré, various left-wing mayor of L’Union, was already in the street. He took part in a procession, like some 1.5 million people who are just like him against pension reform throughout France. An unprecedented mobilization, which pushes the mayor of the town of L’Union (Haute-Garonne) to take up a new post on January 31.
This time, Marc Péré made the decision to close all municipal services in the town of L’Union throughout the afternoon of Tuesday. This allows the mayor to offer half a day to the 170 municipal agents. “It’s a completely militant act,” he defends. His hope: that they perform massively at the demonstrations without risking a salary deduction.
Agents who go on strike all day will only have half-day pay deductions.
Marc Péré, mayor of the town of L’Union
France 3 Occitanie: Why did you make this choice?
Marc Péré: There is a national movement which is being born. It seemed to us to demonstrate in a concrete way our opposition to this pension reform and our total support for this social movement. During the first day of the strike on January 19, there was a very strong mobilization in our services. Nearly 50% of the workforce were on strike. It’s a lot. This is the first time that there has been such a mobilization since we have been in local power since 2014. I have therefore decided to offer my agents half a day, the afternoon of January 31, to coincide with the protests. Clearly, agents who go on strike all day will only have a salary deduction for the half-day.
France 3 Occitanie: Would you like other municipalities to do the same?
MP: I saw that Paris (Île-de-France) and Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) did the same. I appeal to my fellow mayors to take the same kind of action. I know people, public service agents, town hall employees who risk losing a lot of money if they go on strike because they have extremely low salaries. For them, losing half a day’s salary, so one-twentieth of their monthly income, is a sacrifice they cannot afford. This is unacceptable.
It is an attack against millions of employees and millions of agents.
Marc Péré, DVG mayor of L’Union
France 3 Occitanie: Did you yourself participate in the strike day of January 19?
PM: Yes. At the Union, there was a fairly large delegation of elected officials and city hall officials opposed to the reform during the first demonstration on January 19. The commitment of the municipality of L’Union against the pension reform is total. We are therefore once again calling for general mobilization on January 31.
France 3 Occitanie: Why are you opposed to this pension reform?
MP: We consider that this is an extremely violent bill. It is an attack against millions of employees and millions of agents. We steal two years of life from millions of employees when we could make other ideological choices. We categorically reject this project. And our response must be proportionate to the violence of the measure taken by the Macron government.