“A worker, an employee who works, must be paid a fair wage,” said the Minister of the Interior on RTL.

Asked if the current situation portends a major social movement, he argued that “the social weather is very difficult to predict”. “What is certain”, added Mr. Darmanin, “is that people find that their salaries have not kept up with the increase in prices”.

“And they find that part of the bosses are paid and that this remuneration is disproportionate to what a part of the employees receives”, he continued.

“When you are sensitive to the future of your people, as the President of the Republic is, you can see together that yes, some of the employees must be increased,” insisted the Minister of the Interior.

After several weeks of strikes in refineries and a few days before a first wave of departures on vacation, several unions on Tuesday called on public and private employees to stop work and demonstrate, in particular to demand a rise in wages.