Claude Billerot: Once a union member, always a union member

Elderly people should not be a budgetary adjustment variableinsists Claude Billerot, mobilized against the government project of a six-month postponement of the indexation of basic pensions to inflation. We must not believe that retirees are privileged, she continues. Around me I mainly see pensions between 1,200 and 1,400 euros. Claude is president of the Departmental Union of FO Retirees (UDR FO) of Charente. She and her team have set up an online petition against these measures and are preparing to demonstrate on December 3.

Mother of three children, formerly a masseuse-physiotherapist at the Cognac hospital center, she has retired since 2014. But her union consciousness is still there, she who became involved in unionism as soon as she entered working life, following the example of his parents. It is important that workers can equip themselves with the tools to assert their rights. At the time of his commitment, the choice of the union had been obvious: FO was the union that suited me best, both for its independence from political parties and because I appreciate its democratic functioning: the mandate given by the members is the basis of all our actions.

Of all the struggles against pension reforms

The caregiver was first secretary of the FO union in her establishment, where she was able to coordinate a mobilization against the privatization of surgical activity. Claude then got involved in her departmental union. In her federation, FO-SPS, she also took on union responsibilities with a mandate as departmental and then regional secretary (Poitou-Charentes).

Among his most striking memories of the struggle remain the various mobilizations against pension reforms: 1995, 2003, 2010, 2023, all these inter-union and inter-professional gatherings demonstrate that questions relating to retirement bring together all employeesshe emphasizes.

She, who was able to retire at 56, did not hesitate to continue her union commitment. Once a union, always a union, as an activist adage says. And then, let's not forget that without unionism the situation of workers, retirees and Social Security would be much worse.

Everything workers have in common

Today, a large part of his time remains devoted to union action and, when necessary, to mobilization. The fight against the loss of purchasing power linked to the gradual deterioration in the level of pensions is the central axis of its fight. This with access to care and the defense of the social protection system. Because it is the oldest who are most often ill, and because all the de-reimbursement measures, increases in user fees and supplementary contributions (which also rise with age) particularly concern them.

This year, Claude began her second term at CESER, the Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council, where she sits on the college of employee unions. Currently, his commission is working on artificial intelligence. It's very interesting. And as his entire union life shows, this mandate still brings him multiple encounters and an opening to the world. Because union involvement allows you to get out of your environment and realize everything that workers have in common.