the mandatory “minimum number of days” will end Tuesday evening, “tailor-made” assistance to the cultural sector

As the time strikes for the start of the school year and the return to business, it is also the end of the “Minimum number of days” teleworking set by the State in companies: it will be effective from Tuesday, August 31, in the evening, Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Monday on BFM-TV.

Trade unions and employers’ organizations want “All that we give back to companies to set the rules for teleworking, that we no longer have a minimum number of days, that’s what we’re going to do”, she explained. A new protocol will be published ” tomorrow evening “, Tuesday, which will allow “To the management of the company, in discussion with the employee representatives, to define the rules for teleworking”.

On June 9, the rules concerning teleworking were relaxed: a new protocol allowed companies to return their employees to the office several days a week, while recommending that a “Minimum number of days” be fixed “In social dialogue”.

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The government polled employers’ and labor organizations last week. The CGT had expressed its wish that teleworking “Fits into a regular framework, whether it is the subject of agreements”. “It cannot be managed by the state using the health protocol. We must move from a measure of pandemic management to a measure of work organization, through negotiated agreements in the branches and companies “, said Fabrice Angei, member of the Confederal Bureau of the CGT.

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Faced with the good shape of the French economy, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, for his part whistled the end of the “Whatever the cost” last week, while promising to continue “To support those who need it”. Goal : “Switching from a general and flat-rate scheme, the solidarity fund, to a tailor-made scheme (…) to really help each company in difficulty”, assured the minister Monday morning on France Inter, shortly before a meeting, in Bercy, with the sectors still affected by the crisis.

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Meetings in Bercy with the sectors still affected

A first meeting with representatives of trade, tourism and events began around 9:30 am, while Mr. Le Maire had promised entrepreneurs a review clause at the end of August. Mr. Le Maire will be accompanied by his counterparts from work, Elisabeth Borne, SMEs, Alain Griset, and tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.

At 2.30 p.m., the world of culture, including representatives of the cinema and the performing arts, will then be received separately by Ministers Le Maire and Griset and their colleague from culture, Roselyne Bachelot.

The latter announced on Monday on Franceinfo a help ” tailored “ sector, mentioning, unspecified, the maintenance of “Certain cross-cutting measures” assistance to businesses, while noting that the culture sector is in a “Recovery period”.

When asked whether the aid would be allocated according to the situation of each theater or cinema, the Minister replied: ” Exactly. “ And for that the state services go “Look at turnover and attendance” of the companies concerned, using as reference periods “What happened before the introduction of the health pass, and in relation to the years without a health crisis”.

Referring to the press sector, which has “Encountered great difficulties”, she announced an effort “For a certain number of actors and in particular for photojournalists and photodocumentarists”. A public order program, endowed with 5 million euros and piloted by the National Library of France (BnF), will select 100 of them in November and 100 in March 2022. They will receive a grant of 22,000 euros to carry out a “Radioscopy of France of the health crisis and after”. Their work will then be exhibited “At the BnF and throughout France”.

The addition of “whatever the cost” amounts to 240 billion euros

Support measures to help companies overcome the crisis have amounted to 240 billion euros since March 2020, of which a third is grants and two thirds loans, he also said. The money given “To companies or employees to protect purchasing power, it’s 80 billion euros”, he detailed. “To that are added loans, but they are loans, it has nothing to do, economically, with subsidies, of the order of 160 billion euros, state guaranteed loans, plus other forms of loan “, added Bruno Le Maire.

He recalled that the Solidarity Fund had cost around 35 billion euros, as well as the support by the State of the partial activity, while the exemptions of charges amounted to ten billion euros.

Since the start of the health crisis, more than 685,000 loans guaranteed by the State (PGE) have been granted for an amount of 139.3 billion euros, according to the Ministry of the Economy. Other loans, in particular participatory loans, have also been granted by the State, explaining the figure of 160 billion reported by Bruno Le Maire.

The minister highlighted the good health of the French economy, which “Runs at 99% of its capacity” and the resumption of consumption to justify the end of massive aid to companies. He said PGE applications fell from 500,000 in May, when all businesses were still eligible, to 50,000 in July.

The minister said he believed that the economic upturn ” will continue “, because “Consumption is well oriented”. The Minister acknowledged that the pass had a “Temporary effect” especially in cinemas, theme parks and zoos … “And then it recovered more or less quickly depending on the sector”, according to him.

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