The French government raises the minimum wage to 1,502 euros to calm the protests

BarcelonaThe French government is making a move to try to calm the protests. The Minister of Labour, Jean-Pierre Farandou, announced this Monday an increase in the minimum wage to 1,502 euros starting December 1st. The increase comes in the midst of a wave of protests in France, which have been going on for two months now. The minimum wage hike announced by the French government is 1.6%. With this new increase, the head of Labour has detailed that the French minimum wage will have increased by 5.3% this year.

The French Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has defended that it is "the second largest increase in 20 years" to the minimum wage and, in a gesture to the unions and student organizations, he has specified that "it is not a definitive agreement". The intention -said Lecornu- is to "open a phase of debate in which the state must have a role" as "the guarantor of mutual commitments".

In the midst of a wave of protests, Lecornu also took advantage of the announcement to call for "a return to calm", especially in urban centers. He urged the population to avoid the "disorder" and "violence" which, he added, "seriously harm the competitiveness and survival of companies".

"It's a crumb", the unions respond

The raise, however, is considered insufficient by the unions. "The government has only announced crumbs to us," reacted the general secretary of the CGT (the main union force in the country), Sophie Binet. Of the 23 euro increase in the minimum wage announced, 18 euros correspond to the automatic increase that was already planned for January 1st, recalls Binet, who mocks the government's "5 euro nudge." "5 euros is a kilo of tomatoes (...), not even a Mars bar," she lamented. "We did not come here to beg for alms, we have come to demand respect and recognition for our work and a response to the enormous social indignation that is manifesting in the country," she added.