2023-07-11 14:42:00
While the social climate remains tense in France, following the recent urban violence, the government is keen to prove that there are spaces for dialogue. Thus, he is not proud to show that with the unions, exchanges are resuming following months of conflicts around the pension reform, and the decline in the legal age from 62 to 64 years. Against the backdrop of rumors of a cabinet reshuffle, Matignon underlines how important this meeting is. Elisabeth Borne had, of course, received the social partners in mid-May, on 16 and 17, but separately. And the discussions had been cold to say the least.
What will France Travail, which will replace Pôle emploi, look like?
The page of pensions turned?
This time, Elisabeth Borne hopes that the exchanges will be warmer. It aims to ” building together a new work life pact “, as Emmanuel Macron asks. A theme at the heart of the concerns of employers and unions. The latter have indeed often criticized the government for forcing workers to remain in employment longer, without taking care to mention, beforehand, the working conditions, the aspirations of the employees, etc.
Still, this meeting may still be tense between the social partners and the government. Even if all the unions have accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister, including Sophie Binet, of the CGT, all intend not to turn the page on the pension reform so easily. ” We didn’t hold demonstrations all winter, so that our mobilization might be erased with a pencil stroke “, assures a framework of the CFE-CGC.
Questioned this morning on France Television, Sophie Binet, who succeeds Philippe Martinez assured “that this reform is not behind us, far from it, because it will apply for thousands of employees from September 1st with catastrophic consequences”.
Same story on the side of the CFDT. On the set of the Tribune last Friday, live from the meetings in Aix en Provence, Marylise Léon was in the same state of mind and also evoked this horizon of the application of the reform in September. Ditto for Fréderic Souillot of Force Ouvrière.
Moreover, most of them want to raise the issue of wages and purchasing power. And regret that this point is not on the agenda while inflation remains high. This is the first concern of the French, and for the majority of the unions, it is impossible to stick to the sole provisions of the law on the sharing of added value.
New interlocutors
Elisabeth Borne hopes, however, that the new composition of the social partners will calm things down a bit. In a few months, many leaders have changed. Patrick Martin was elected president of Medef last week. But as officially, according to the statutes, he will not take his mandate until July 17, it is still Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux who will move to Matignon, accompanied by his successor.
Medef: what awaits Patrick Martin, the new boss of bosses
At the CFDT, Marylise Léon succeeded Laurent Berger on June 21. And Sophie Binet has only been running the CGT for two months. “Social dialogue is also regarding men and women, with emotions, not artificial intelligences”, assured a bit ironic Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux last week, to justify the good relationship he had with his union counterparts. Will it be the same between the new ones? At Matignon, we hope in any case that this will allow “to make a clean sweep of certain resentments”.
Nothing is less certain, however, because Sophie Binet like Marylise Léon are reputed to be tougher in business than their predecessors. And none of the big union leaders – CFE-CGC included – wants to play the appeasement card….
The Full Employment Act, a real irritant
Moreover, the Full Employment law, which is currently being discussed in the Senate, acts as a powerful irritant. All the unions are upwind once morest the will of the majority to oblige the beneficiaries of the RSA, to follow a contract of engagement, which obliges them to hours of training or work. Last night, senators voted on two key articles of this text: the automatic registration of RSA beneficiaries on the lists of job seekers (and therefore the possible radiation) and the generalization of this employment contract. Above all, the senators went further than the government, by registering a weekly duration of at least 15 hours of activity. Where the executive did not want to put quotas. For the unions, these provisions will make the most vulnerable even more precarious.
Reform of the RSA: it will be “neither free work nor compulsory volunteering”, assures Olivier Dussopt
Employers are not necessarily in a better state of mind. He is opposed to the State drawing on the surpluses of Unedic to finance the creation of France Travail, a one-stop shop which must replace Pôle emploi from January 2024, according to the bill. More than two billion euros might thus escape the unemployment insurance scheme.
Finally, the declarations of Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, this weekend, on a probable postponement of the reductions in production taxes, including the CVAE, worrying business leaders. Even if they are not a representative organization, invited to Matignon, the intermediate-sized companies gathered in the METI, have already made their dissatisfaction known.
All the employers’ organizations are also on the defensive in the face of the unions’ unanimous demand to condition public aid on obligations to maintain employment, to put in place measures in favor of ecological transition, etc. “This idea of setting conditions is not new, but yes, there is concern that, in the current climate, MPs and even the government will follow this request “says a member of the executive council of Medef.
In this context, the meeting at Matignon might well come to an end. Without waiting for its holding this Wednesday at 10 a.m., the unions have already planned to meet at the end of August, in inter-union, to discuss the return to social life. They do not exclude new strikes and days of action.
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