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At the call of three main unions, including the CGT, the French are called to strike today to demand wage increases. Claims against a background of inflation and social unrest. Because many French today consider themselves poorly paid.
On French social networks the hashtag #BalanceYourSalary has gone viral since last week. The management of TotalEnergies triggered this confession 2.0 by declaring that the group’s employees earned an average of 5,000 euros, more than twice the median salary, today slightly below the 2,000 euro mark. Median salary, this means that half of the French earn less and the other more. This “information” was immediately denied by the refinery strikers. But too late, all the French people who consider themselves poorly paid have let themselves go on the web to display their remuneration.
This unpacking is quite unusual in a country where talking about money is taboo; it testifies to the deep malaise of the forgotten categories that we know well: teachers or nurses, among the worst paid in Europe. Or even the first of the rope, or of chore, which we talked about a lot during the Covid crisis. All of these invisible people – most of them employed in the services – earn minimum wage or little more, that is to say well below the median wage.
What they demand today is first of all a catch-up on inflation
They want to save their purchasing power. The price increase is estimated this year at 6%, while the proposed increases are around 4% according to estimates by INSEE, the national statistics institute. The account is not there. On the other hand, the minimum wage has been increased by 8% this year (it has been 1,323 euros net since August 1), which is beyond inflation.
The problem is that this improvement benefits only smicards: those who earn a little more but often less than this median salary, have not benefited from the boost. Hence their dissatisfaction, exacerbated by the super profits announced by energy companies such as TotalEnergies or the freight group CMA CGM. In the current context, these gains seem indecent. This is why the super profits tax that the government continues to push back is so popular.
Yet point out the liberal experts, contrary to popular belief, over the long term, the sharing of value between capital and labor has remained stable in France, while the share allocated to labor has declined in most other EU countries. OECD.
Should we go back to indexing wages to inflation as was the case in France until 1983?
This means taking the risk of fueling the inflationary spiral. The government preferred to put in place a temporary energy shield rather than open the valve of general increases. On the other hand, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, like Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, strongly encourages companies “which can” to increase wages. If multinationals reap record revenues, this is far from being the case for smaller companies strangled by the rising cost of energy. This is why this clarification (the “companies that can”) is not a political facility but an economic reality.
There are also more and more companies that “must” increase their employees
To keep them or attract them. This is true in catering, transport and in general in management, where unemployment is almost zero. With or without inflation, the balance of power is once again favorable to employees and they have every intention of taking advantage of it. For a better sharing of income but also for better working conditions, with telework or the four-day week. The social question is therefore back in France but its contours have changed, a challenge for employers and the government who must respond to this new situation.