Leaders of France's five main unions held an unusual press conference on February 23 in Paris, two days before the final unemployment insurance negotiation session. They reaffirm their opposition to employers' demands for 1 billion euros in annual savings. This move aims to safeguard workers' rights against the employers' broadened proposals.
On February 23, leaders from France's five major unions, including the CGT and Force ouvrière (FO), gathered at FO's Paris headquarters for an unprecedented press conference. The CGT describes this collective action as without prior example, occurring 48 hours before the pivotal February 25 negotiation session.
These talks, initiated by a letter from Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou dated November 29, 2025, focus primarily on compensating mutual-consent terminations, or ruptures conventionnelles, between employers and employees. The government seeks an agreement yielding at least 400 million euros in annual savings.
Yet, employer representatives are expanding the scope. In the February 19 session, they suggested measures affecting performing arts intermittents, cross-border workers, and recovery of unduly paid benefits, known as « trop-perçus ». These could generate over 4 billion euros, though employers claim to target only 1 billion.
The unions maintain that cutting jobseekers' rights to this extent is unacceptable. This unified pressure highlights ongoing tensions in the negotiations, aimed at reforming the unemployment insurance system.
