France brings forward minimum wage increase in bid to quell unrest

First, France is set to increase its minimum wage by 1.6% from the beginning of December. Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandeau announcing the move as the government seeks to ease growing concerns over the rising cost of living, the issue having fuelled widespread public discontent, contributing to some of the worst civil unrest that this country has seen in years. This is Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu today was also meeting union and industry representatives for a so-called social dialogue conference. With me is our international affairs editor, Rochelle Ferguson. Rochelle, what exactly is the government proposing to ease tensions in the country? We've been listening in this afternoon, Annette, to that social conference carried out by Sébastien Lecornu and his team. You're spot on there with the figure 1.6% is the minimum wage increase offered by the government. Concretely, what does that mean for those who are earning minimum wage? It means that it will go up to 1, 1,002 euros, quite specific there, 1,002 euros. It will happen as of December. It was supposed to go up by 18 euros on the 1st of January. But of course, you mentioned those protests there that have got the government scrambling to answer protesters' concerns. It's worth saying that 23, 24 euros is the biggest rise in the minimum wage for the last two decades here in France. So it might not sound like a lot, but certainly in terms of the records, Prior records, it's pretty big. The government says there is a reason why it's stuck with this one. 0.6%. They say going any higher would have resulted in more job losses. Why? Because in terms of who employs minimum wage employees, they're mostly the small and medium-sized businesses. So they say we couldn't ask them to simply, you know, put up wages substantially all at the same time. A second reason that they say is because they are still struggling, this minority government with passing the 2027 budget. They say, you know, if we were, again, to raise the minimum wage quite significantly, that will, of course, you know, know, tap into the coffers here in France. We're already cash strapped and that would mean greater public spending. And the last reason that they give for that is they say that, you know, going too high with a minimum wage would essentially wage, raise the wage when it comes to entry level jobs. And that, they say, would eventually end up having a negative impact. So 1.6 percent increase in minimum wage. That is principally what's being offered by the government today as a way to quell the protest. And of course, the big question, therefore, is how have the unions responded? Well, of course, that social conference was in the presence of both business leaders and unions. Unions are then getting together, notably the CGT, and saying that this is essentially crumbs, pointing out that there was already supposed to be an 18 euro increase. This totals to... Five euros more. That's some people who are already on social media have said that this is like 80 centimes per day. That's not even the price of a baguette. Sophie Binet, the head of the CGT, describing it as not even enough to buy a kilo of tomatoes, ultimately, with some of the prices here in France. The second problem, though, that is that, of course, minimum wage... ...answers to a certain amount of the population. 2.2 million people here in France receive the minimum wage. What about those who are already earning more than 1,500 euros but are also suffering with a lack of purchasing power? How is the government going to tend to those people there, which is essentially a larger percentage of society? Government unions, or the unions I should say, are already calling for more protests on the 17th of November. They say this is, you know, a dip. In the union, this is clearly not enough, and we can expect more talks between the government and the union coming forward.