The debates were long and bitter, but the purchasing power bill is slowly making its way through the National Assembly. The deputies voted Tuesday, July 19 the continuation of the “Macron bonus”, exceptional tax-free and desocialized bonus, on the second day of the examination of the bill on purchasing power, as well as the facilitation of incentive schemes in company, a measure criticized by the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), during the review.
After more than six hours of discussions on the interest of bonuses, rather than the wage increases advocated by the left, the deputies adopted by 327 votes against 119 article 1is of the flagship text of the summer in Parliament. Thus, employers will be able to pay until December 31, 2023 an exceptional bonus of a maximum amount of 3,000 euros (or 6,000 euros in the event of a profit-sharing agreement), exempt from income tax and contributions and social contributions, for employees whose income is less than three times the value of the minimum wage.
This is the extension of the Macron bonus, introduced in 2019 during the “yellow vests” crisis, but with a tripling of the ceiling of this bonus. According to the impact study carried out by the government, more than fifteen million people benefited from this bonus between 2019 and 2022, for an average amount of the bonus amounting to 542 euros.
The Nupes alliance believes that “bonuses replace wages” and they depend “at the goodwill of the boss” – to which the majority responded that this vision of the company was “from another time”. Several left-wing elected officials have also repeatedly denounced a “willingness to circumvent the financing of Social Security and pension funds”, through this bonus.
“Good ally of Macronie”
After an interpellation of the ecologist Sandra Regol, the deputy of Renaissance Christine Le Nabour launched at the address of the benches of the left: “we never said we want to compromise with you”immediately arousing a shower of indignant reactions from the elected officials of Nupes.
In addition to the government and the majority, the “rebellious” fought on another front, that of the deputies of the National Rally (RN) who sought to amend or widen the bonus, and not to oppose it. “There is a battle to be fought, for the increase in wages” and the RN behaves in “good ally of Macronie”, launched in particular the deputy of the North of La France insoumise (LFI), Adrien Quatennens. Because if Marine Le Pen considers that “bonuses are not ideal”she believes that “for millions of French people, it’s still an increase in their purchasing power”.
The bill also plans to make the bonus permanent in the private sector, in the form of a “value-sharing premium”. This will only be exempt from social security contributions, up to a limit of 3,000 euros (6,000 euros in the event of a profit-sharing agreement). The maximum amount of the bonus and the maximum level of remuneration that can give access to it must be the subject of a company or group agreement or, failing that, a unilateral decision by the employer.
“Sharing Value”
Also, the debates dragged on about the third article of the bill on purchasing power, which mainly aims to promote profit-sharing (bonuses linked to company results) in companies with fewer than 50 employees. This was voted on at first reading on Tuesday evening, by 288 votes to 90, before the bill was examined in the Senate.
The Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, praised a mechanism of « simplification » and of « facilitation » for the “value sharing” within the company. The interest is “still very little implemented” in companies with less than 50 employees, recalled the deputy of Renaissance (ex-La République en Marche) Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.
To develop it, the article allows for a profit-sharing scheme on “unilateral decision” of the heads of these small companies in the absence of staff representative institutions or in the event of failure of negotiations, when the company is not covered by an approved branch agreement providing for a profit-sharing scheme. The text also proposes more generally to extend the duration of profit-sharing agreements from three to five years.
Rushed schedule
“Rebellious” deputies, ecologists and communists rejected the article en bloc, demanding salary increases rather than bonuses. “It’s a complete decoy”, a “subterfuge offered to bosses to once again avoid any real salary increase”, recalled the “rebellious” MP Aurélie Trouvou. The communist Pierre Dharréville saw there a “liberal logic” of deregulation.
“The salary will remain the same. How by earning more, will an employee be precarious? », replied the MoDem Erwan Balanant. At Horizons, also in the presidential majority, Vincent Thiébaut criticized Nupes for its “total ignorance of the business world”. “We know the business world, but, unlike you, we talk more with the employees than with the bosses”, retorted the “rebellious” Antoine Léaument. On the right, the deputy Les Républicains (LR) Thibault Bazin judged, for his part, that the measure was going ” in the right direction “despite “brakes” persistent for small businesses.
There were still 389 amendments to be considered on this bill at the close of the session on Tuesday at midnight, with a schedule that may be further disrupted. A few spikes punctuated the end of the evening, including a reminder of the rules of the RN Jean-Philippe Tanguy, who accused the rapporteur Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq (Renaissance) of“incompetence” and lack of listening. The latter immediately denounced the “goujaterie” by M. Tanguy.