Hundreds of thousands of workers struck across France on Thursday, 5 November, to demand higher pay, while the main wage option the government has discussed would add about €15 a month to the minimum wage. Ministers are considering moving the minimum wage’s automatic annual rise, due on 1 January 2027, forward to 1 December. That rise follows a legal formula and is expected to be about 1 percent, or roughly €15 net a month on a full-time minimum wage of about €1,478, business daily Les Échos and other French outlets have reported. The CFDT union wants €100 net a month, nearly seven times that amount. The CGT wants a 10 percent rise, worth close to €150, and wages indexed to prices. The gap comes months before the first round of France’s presidential election on 18 April 2027, in which President Emmanuel Macron cannot stand. The protests began in September in high schools and have since drawn in unions and a revived yellow-vest movement.
Why the Automatic Rise Has Not Kicked In
French labour law raises the minimum wage mid-year if consumer prices climb at least 2 percent from the index used for the previous increase. Prices rose 0.8 percent between April, the reference month for the June increase, and September, according to statistics agency Insee data compiled by France Épargne. October figures are due in mid-November.
Any rise before January therefore needs a political decision. Economy Minister Roland Lescure said on 24 October that the timing was among the parameters to be discussed with unions and employers, and that the minimum wage would keep rising if inflation continued. Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou has said he is open to bringing the rise forward, but has warned that increases of €100 to €150 a month could cost jobs and feed inflation. No decision had been announced at the time of writing.
The Medef, France’s main employers’ federation, opposes going beyond the formula. Its president, Patrick Martin, said on 23 October that “under the pretext of buying social peace in the street, we will create chaos in companies”. He put the extra labour costs in the 2027 social security budget at €11.5 billion and warned that a large rise could put up to 200,000 jobs at risk.
Unions say higher low wages would support consumer spending. CFDT leader Marylise Léon has called for a jolt to purchasing power and a review of sector pay scales. After Paris police refused the unions’ preferred march route near government buildings, a decision upheld in court, CGT leader Sophie Binet said: “The government tried to block the demonstrations. The demonstrations are bigger than ever,” according to Reuters.
The CGT said more than 250,000 people had marched in nearly 70 towns and cities by early afternoon. Reuters reported that the Interior Ministry had not given a nationwide figure.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes. In Lyon, where the CGT counted 55,000 marchers and the authorities 30,500, the ministry said police faced several hundred hardcore protesters, and Reuters reported that riot police fired tear gas. Clashes were also reported in Rennes.
The Education Ministry said just over 15 percent of teaching staff were on strike. EDF data showed the walkout cut nuclear output by 2.4 gigawatts, and the Eiffel Tower was closed.
The government’s earlier concessions did not touch pay. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu released 10 million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves on 7 October, saying it would bring down pump prices, and ministers promised an overhaul of the Parcoursup university admissions system on 26 October after the high-school protests.
Yellow-vest groups have called blockades and demonstrations for Friday and Saturday. On pay, the next marker is the October inflation figure, due in mid-November, which will show how close prices are to triggering an automatic rise.