The 2026 Social Security financing bill provides for relief calculated on a less favorable basis in sectors whose minimums remain below the statutory minimum wage. An implementing decree could be issued shortly, but the unions consider it ineffective: it would leave the sectors too much time to come into compliance.
Public-sector unions were not invited on Monday. They will be received separately by Sébastien Lecornu on Friday. Teachers' unions, which did not receive an invitation, are making this known.
After the social partners in the morning, Sébastien Lecornu is to meet immediately afterward, in the afternoon, with representatives of high-school and university students. A first committee on reforming the Parcoursup guidance system, at the heart of their demands, is scheduled next.
The prime minister's room for maneuver remains limited. While he can give a boost to the statutory minimum wage, which falls within his remit, he has no control over other wages and is leaving them to the social partners.
Discontent is not easing. Days of mobilization have followed one another every week since the start of the high-school student movement in mid-September. They were marred, on October 17, by unprecedented violence and looting.
The scale of the minimum-wage measure will probably not meet union demands. The CFDT is calling for a net increase of 100 euros, the CGT for about 150 euros net per month.
The CGT general secretary spelled out the government's calculation: the automatic increase on January 1 is 1.2%, or about 18 euros."If the government announces to us later an increase of 23 euros, that means five euros of government support,"she said.