This time it was the unions who lost. Friday, October 22, their appeal against one of the emblematic measures of the unemployment insurance reform was rejected by the Council of State. Seized in summary proceedings, the high court did not suspend the decree allowing the application from 1er October the new method of calculating the allowance. In a statement, she said that “The general tendency of the job market”, which is improving, no longer constituted ” a barrier “ to this regulatory change. In June, it had held the opposite reasoning, giving satisfaction to the organizations of employees.
The dispute concerns the most criticized provision of the reform. The government has changed the terms of the equation resulting in the benchmark daily wage, which serves as the basis for determining the level of compensation. The objective is to put an end to situations where employees having multiplied short contracts would be better covered by unemployment insurance than those who worked continuously. Thus, the executive intends to encourage sustainable employment. This approach is denounced by all the central unions because it leads to a drop in the monthly amount of the benefit for the unemployed alternating odd jobs and periods of inactivity.
A decree dated March 30 was issued so that the new formula of the daily reference wage comes into force on the 1er July. The workers’ organizations responded by filing several requests before the Council of State.
Without calling into question the principle of the reform, the interim judge, Anne Egerszegi, ordered, on June 22, the suspension of the method of calculating the allowance by retaining a single reason and methodically dismissing the other means raised by the applicants: in his view, the economic uncertainties were so great at the time that they prevented the establishment, at the very beginning of the summer, of a mechanism intended to promote the stability of the workforce.
Even more devastating effects, according to the CGT
The government resumed the assault by issuing another decree, dated September 29, for the offending rules to apply from 1er October. Eight unions and four tour guide organizations then, in turn, counterattacked before the Council of State. During the summary hearing held on October 14, they insisted a lot, through their lawyers, on the unknowns who, according to them, continue to prevail in terms of employment. The representatives of the Ministry of Labor, for their part, have, on the contrary, highlighted the vitality of the economic situation, their aim being to show the judge, Olivier Yeznikian, that there was no longer any reason to interrupt the during the reform.
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