Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt at the National Assembly, June 8, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Ludovic MARIN)
The National Assembly on Monday takes up the bill on “value sharing” within companies, resulting from a union-employer agreement, which promises new showdowns on “superprofits” and wages.
After turning the page on pensions, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt returns to the hemicycle from 4:00 p.m. for this “faithful” transposition text of a national interprofessional agreement (ANI) concluded in February in a context of high inflation.
It plans to extend schemes such as profit-sharing, participation or value-sharing bonuses (PPV or “Macron bonus”) to all companies with more than 11 employees, with VSEs-SMEs lagging behind. It is also a question of developing employee share ownership.
The agreement was signed by four out of five unions – without the CGT – and is “in line with the reforms since 2017 to upgrade work”, boasts the minister.
He pleads for “the balance of the text to be preserved”, urging the deputies to stick to “the agreement, nothing but the agreement”.
And Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who is seeking to renew social dialogue after the long pension dispute, welcomes: “this bill illustrates what we want to do with the social partners, that is to say let them take the lead” and then translate the agreements into law.
But parliamentarians intend to take their full part, and have tabled some 380 amendments to the bill, under consideration until Thursday.
The LR deputies support the “value sharing” devices, seen as an “additional remuneration and challenge for employees”.
The other oppositions are more dubious, even frankly opposed. At the National Rally, it is feared that the deployment of these devices will be done “to the detriment of the increase in wages, which remains the best sharing of value”.
The left also fears a “circumvention of wages” and accuses the government of “not responding in any way to the question of purchasing power”.
– “Foam parties” –
LFI elected officials will seek to remove what they perceive as “smoke screens” to deceive employees, and the whole of Nupes is pushing for equal pay or “social justice” measures.
The communist Pierre Dharréville anticipates some long and fierce debates around this text, with votes at risk for the government. “A number of foam parties,” he smiles.
The project provides that companies with 11 to 49 employees and which are profitable – whose net profit represents at least 1% of turnover for three consecutive years – set up at least a mechanism for sharing the value, for five years of experimentation.
In committee, the deputies advanced the entry into force of the obligation by one year, to the beginning of 2024.
Participation is a profit redistribution mechanism, currently mandatory in companies with more than 50 employees, while profit-sharing is an optional bonus linked to non-financial results or performance. These arrangements come with tax benefits.
The debates promise to be animated around the question of “exceptional profits”. The text provides that companies with at least 50 employees will have to negotiate its definition and sharing.
The initial copy left it up to the employers alone but, after consulting the Council of State, the government included this company negotiation.
The presidential majority has planned in the hemicycle to re-specify that “the definition of the exceptional increase in profit” will have to take into account the size of the company, its sector, etc.
Insufficient for the oppositions, who want more framing and advocate, like the rebellious, systematic bonuses in the event of “superprofits”.
Some in the majority are not left out, Emmanuel Macron having himself committed during his campaign to establishing an “employee dividend”, and the boss of the MoDem group Jean-Paul Mattei having raised since the fall the subject of ” super dividends”.
Mr. Dussopt warned of “a risk of one-upmanship” and will only defend any modification to the ANI “with a consensus of the signatories”.
The text does not attack large companies which devote their “exceptional” income to share buybacks when Emmanuel Macron had asked to think about ways to “benefit” workers.
Mr. Dussopt postponed a possible measure to the next budget.
© 2023 AFP
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