After the unions last week, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne received employers’ organizations, the Medef and the CPME, on Monday at Matignon, who told her about the post-pension reform subjects on which they were willing to negotiate. For the Medef, the boss of bosses Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux said he was “ready to discuss the employment of seniors” and the provisions censored by the Constitutional Council, but not a possible revision of work orders or pensions, while the unions had reiterated their opposition to the reform of these.
In general, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, who is about to hand over to the head of the Medef, came “with a list of subjects” which he wishes to discuss. He mentioned the possibility of discussing “gradual retirement”, the high salaries of senior executives “which slow down their hiring” or the degressiveness of unemployment benefits.
On wages, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux reiterated that “private companies have done the job” with an average salary per head up by 5.8% according to Urssaf, unlike the State-employer where the increase is “around 2%”. But he said he was ready to talk about the problem of the low increase in net salaries between one and two Smic, while according to certain studies, “between 60% and 70% of salary increases are not found in net”, in notably because of the disappearance of the activity bonus.
On the other hand, he said that he did not “know what it meant” to condition public aid to companies on wage increases, as demanded by the unions. And he said he was “not ready to negotiate” a review of work orders, which are “red lines” for him.
The president of Medef also asked the Prime Minister that the agreement concluded between employers and four unions on the sharing of value, which will be transposed into a bill presented on Wednesday to the Council of Ministers, make “jurisprudence” and that “if there is an agreement on the employment of seniors, it is taken up entirely”. Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux said that he “was a little wary of the expression social agenda. We must take the subjects that are ripe” to be negotiated, “we are not obliged to open them all at the same time”.
The Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) for its part has put back on the table its proposal to exempt seniors from the age of 57 from unemployment insurance contributions, “even if it means that the company reimburses the unpaid contributions if it separated from this senior before retirement, ”said his boss, François Asselin, to AFP.
The first two employers’ organizations also intend to limit the possibility of opening a time savings account in all companies to taking the days saved just before retirement, and not throughout working life. “I felt someone listening”, eager “to find the subjects likely to be negotiated between social partners” and to “turn the page” on pensions, underlined François Asselin about Élisabeth Borne.
The Medef also defended the degressivity of unemployment benefits, while according to the number one of the CFE / CGC François Homeril, Elisabeth Ms. Borne would consider “letting the social partners reconsider” this measure which entered into force in February. “We see no reason (to) change” the reform of unemployment insurance and “the Prime Minister confirmed it to us,” said Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux on Monday.
It also excludes discussing with the unions subjects on which the positions are too antagonistic, such as wage indexation. “Social dialogue works when there is grain to grind and there is the will on both sides to find a compromise,” he says.
The CPME, which also wants to address the housing crisis, professional wear and the use of the personal training account, ensures that it is “absolutely not in a defensive state of mind” after the pension reform. The Union of local businesses (U2P), which represents craftsmen and liberal professions, will be received on Tuesday by Elisabeth Borne.
