The executive is once again accused of attacking the unemployed. While he has just announced an increase in checks on job seekers, several union officials are indignant, believing that such a measure is “Demagogic” and harbors electoral ulterior motives. These criticisms are added to those launched for months against the reform of unemployment insurance, which has tightened the rules for accessing the device while making the compensation of precarious workers less favorable.
The anger of employee organizations is linked to Emmanuel Macron’s last speech. On Tuesday, November 9, the President of the Republic spoke of the “Entrepreneurs” who are struggling to recruit labor for lack of candidates. “At a time when three million of our compatriots are still unemployed, this situation clashes with common sense”, he lamented. For the ” to go past “, the Head of State enumerated several solutions, already implemented – for example massive investments in vocational training – or which will materialize soon. Thereby, “Job seekers who do not demonstrate an active search will see their benefits suspended”, he said.
15 billion for training
His words could have suggested that it was a novelty. It is not so. Within Pôle emploi, there are some 600 agents who ensure that the unemployed take initiatives in order to get a job – the latter being required to do so when they register with the public operator. In 2019, around 400,000 checks were carried out; 15% of them resulted in more or less severe sanctions, the allowance being able to be withdrawn for one to four months, even definitively if there is a fraud.
The number of these checks will be increased by 25% over the next six months. This was indicated by the Minister of Labor, Elisabeth Borne, Wednesday morning on RTL. The goal is to see if the targeted individuals ” respond[ent] to offers, surrenders[ent] in interviews, participate[nt] at recruitment sessions or sui[vent] the training offered “. “It’s quite normal”, she added, recalling that, at the start of the five-year term, the government launched a plan, funded to the tune of 15 billion euros, to develop the skills of job seekers.
The government’s decision “Is based on the assumption that the unemployed do not want to work and that they must be forced to do so with sanctions and reductions in benefits”, confides Denis Gravouil, in charge of the unemployment insurance file at the CGT: “We are of course opposed to it. “ “We stigmatize job seekers, protests Michel Beaugas, confederal secretary at Force Ouvrière. It is the same speech as that consisting in pretending that it is enough to cross the street to find a job. The President of the Republic seeks to broaden his electoral spectrum. “ Confederal Secretary at the CFTC, Eric Courpotin denounces a form of “Populism” : “We entered the campaign. ” For her part, Marylise Léon, number two of the CFDT, regrets that the executive has not addressed the “Question of corporate responsibility” in this debate which includes the theme of unfilled job vacancies: for her, working conditions and remuneration are one of the main factors of the problem.
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