PARIS--French unions will hold another day of strike and protests on October 2 to put pressure on new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu over their demands to scrap his predecessor's austerity fiscal programme, union leaders said.
Union leaders who met with Lecornu on Wednesday said they were not satisfied by his response to their last day of protest, attended by hundreds of thousands of people on September 18. "The prime minister did not provide any clear answers to the workers' demands, so for the unions, it's a missed opportunity. It doesn't add up," said Marylise Leon, the head of CFDT, France's largest union.
Just over two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron appointed Lecornu as his fifth prime minister in less than two years, the 39-year-old loyalist has yet to pull together a government or a draft budget for 2026. He has to deal with a divided parliament and pressure to fix France's finances.
"There was a big turnout on September 18, and we need to step it up again on October 2," said Sophie Binet, of the CGT union, describing Wednesday's meeting as a missed opportunity where Lecornu made no clear commitment.
Lecornu has been little seen or heard in public since his appointment and has instead held a series of talks with party leaders and unionists to try to gather some support. The Prime Minister's office said in a statement after Wednesday's meeting that Lecornu was "fully aware of the concerns and anxieties of workers in the country, to which appropriate responses must be found."
To this end, it said, Lecornu will send a letter in the coming days to unions and employers asking for their input on issues ranging from the financing of social protection to economic sovereignty and work conditions.
