"The island's inhabitants are fed up with being treated like second-class citizens": unions denounce an "explosive situation" in Mayotte

Six months after Cyclone Chido and the President's visit to the area, the inhabitants of Mayotte remain on their own in a devastated territory that has been rebuilt too slowly despite promises. Faced with this situation, the leaders of the main unions sent an open letter to the government on Monday, June 2.

"Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, we are solemnly alerting you because the situation in Mayotte is explosive. The island's inhabitants are fed up with being treated like second-class citizens. We must take stock of the archipelago's immense needs, particularly in terms of public services, if we want to get it out of the crisis that Cyclone Chido has only amplified ," write Sophie Binet (CGT), Marylise Léon (CFDT), François Hommeril (CFE-CGC), Laurent Escure (UNSA), Caroline Chevée (FSU), Murielle Guilbert and Julie Ferrua (Solidaires) in their joint letter.

It is also a measure of equality that the signatory organizations are defending first and foremost on the social level. "We reaffirm that social convergence must be implemented as quickly as possible, starting with ending the reduction of the Mahorais minimum wage from 2026," they specify, recalling moreover that "77% of inhabitants live below the poverty line", that "the RSA and family allowances are 50% from the mainland", that "housing assistance does not exist" , or that "the Mahorais minimum wage is still 25% lower than the minimum wage in the rest of France, a reduction passed on to almost all salaries" .

While the right and the presidential camp have made the issue of immigration the origin of all the ills in the archipelago – like the repressive and stigmatizing measures ratified by the Senate at the end of May – the unions are not avoiding the issue but are defending a completely different path. "We demand that the laws of the Republic be fully applied to Mayotte, starting with those concerning immigration. The demand of our unions in Mayotte is not the questioning of the right of the soil but the end of the territorialized visa, this exceptional visa which confines its holders to Mayotte and prevents them from reaching the mainland," they explain.

"The people of Mayotte want a rapid implementation of the convergence of social rights, which is currently planned for only by 2031. However, at the same time, the bill provides that businesses would benefit from a total exemption from social security contributions and taxes from 2026 for 5 years through the establishment of a free zone on Mayotte territory, without any compensation," the unions further point out, believing that " we must not create a feeling of unequal treatment between aid to businesses and the real equality of rights to be established for the population."

Especially when public services are so degraded, whether in transport – with “the total absence of organized public transport” -, education – “due to a lack of teachers and places in establishments, students are only taken care of part-time ” -, or health – with “undignified health care” .

Faced with these multiple emergencies, the unions are calling for "the opening of consultations as quickly as possible, in Paris, with arrangements allowing the direct involvement of our local organisations to finally establish equal rights" .