The unions and the employers want to regain room for maneuver after losing a lot during the five-year term of Emmanuel Macron. This is one of the challenges of the negotiations that they are due to start on Wednesday, January 5, on the “modernization of parity”. The aim is to strengthen the role of employers ‘and employees’ movements “In the economic and social life of the country”, by structuring their ” speaking “. It is also an arrest a few months before the presidential election, in order to see how their concerns are taken into account by the candidates.
The initiative is part of “The autonomous agenda” that Medef had offered in 2021 to other social actors. Several rounds of discussion on various themes had been initiated, one of which resulted in a ” framework agreement ” on vocational training, almost three months ago. The exchanges which begin on Wednesday relate to the “Joint management” and the “Joint negotiation” : by schematizing in broad outline, the first term covers the institutions in which the employers and the unions exercise a strong responsibility (for example the association Unédic which controls the unemployment insurance), while the second designates the activity of the partners social policies aimed at reaching compromises on a given issue.
The approach takes place in a context where the State has increased its influence in the field of policies relating to employers ‘and employees’ organizations. An illustration: the compensation scheme for job seekers, which was reformed by the “professional future” law of September 2018. From now on, the social partners are required to follow a framework letter drafted by the government when they negotiate on the operation of the system.
“Rebalancing relationships”
Regardless of the transformations carried out under Mr. Macron’s mandate, which have strengthened the prerogatives of the public authorities, relations between the executive and the intermediary bodies have not always been fluid since 2017. For the President of the Republic, the unions and employers have their place in defining the rules of the game at company and branch level. On the other hand, he has serious doubts about their ability to manage joint bodies.
The social partners therefore intend to provide proof of their “Legitimacy on subjects which concern the wage earning system as a whole”, confides Michel Beaugas, confederal secretary at FO. “Interprofessional dialogue is not dead, continues Marylise Léon, number two of the CFDT. There are themes on which we have things to say, as the national agreements finalized at the end of 2020 on occupational health and telework have shown. “ According to Pierre Jardon, confederal secretary at the CFTC, “The major stake” of the discussion consists of “Rebalance relationships” between, on the one hand, the trade unions and the employers, on the other, the executive power and the Parliament. Gilles Lecuelle, national secretary at the CFE-CGC, sees it as an exercise ” necessary “, which will allow – among other things – to mark out the joint negotiation process: “At present, there is no framework”, he observes. Confederal Secretary at the CGT, Angeline Barth intends to get involved in the work to come to “Give back a utility” and one “Normative power” at the inter-professional level.
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