2023-06-26 19:11:57
It’s a new intense week of discussions that begins at the Palais-Bourbon. The bill on the sharing of value in companies arrived Monday, June 26, in public session, at the National Assembly and will be debated there until Thursday. 400 amendments have been tabled on this new text, transposition of a national inter-professional agreement (ANI) signed between employers and unions last February.
Aiming to improve the sharing of profits by companies with their employees, the new legislation provides for the mandatory implementation, in companies with 11 to 49 employees, of mechanisms such as profit-sharing, participation or the Macron bonus. Companies with more than 50 employees, where these participation mechanisms already exist, will be able to distribute additional bonuses in the event of exceptional profits, otherwise known as “surpluses”.
The definition of “superprofits”, sinews of war
After a rapid adoption by the Social Affairs Committee on Monday June 19, one question remains unanswered and risks being the source of lively debate: the very definition of these “surplus profits”.
The original copy of the ANI left it up to the employer to define the criteria. After an opinion delivered by the Council of State, the bill presented provides for collective bargaining in companies with more than 50 employees. The presidential majority wants to clarify this definition during parliamentary debates, taking into account the size of the company, its sector of activity, or even the results of previous years.
But this position is likely to not achieve consensus, especially on the side of employers. At the CPME, relying on the average of the profits of the last years is displeasing. Asked in the daily The echoesÉric Chevée, in charge of social affairs at the CPME, pleads instead to integrate the idea of a “exogenous shock” in the characterization of exceptional profits.
A lack of ambition, according to the left
On the other hand, on the left of the hemicycle, we defend a more restricted definition of the exceptional increase in profits. Co-rapporteur for the bill, Green MP Éva Sas tabled an amendment, initially rejected in committee, to include a basic definition of “surplus”.
A measure supported by the CFDT. “Originally, we wanted this to be defined by social dialoguesays Luc Mathieu, national secretary. But what will happen if the company negotiations do not reach an agreement? Employees may not get anything. That is why, in these cases, we would like a supplementary measure. »
The shadow of “superprofits”
Beyond this thorny question of definition, other points could crystallize the tensions in the Assembly. Yet excluded from the interprofessional agreement, the question of the taxation of superprofits risks being brought back to the fore, in particular by certain Nupes deputies, who point to legislation that is not ambitious enough.
This scenario has reason to worry some parliamentarians from the majority, divided on the subject. In 2022, the president of the MoDem group, Jean-Paul Mattei, had declared that he was in favor of taxation and had – quite widely – adopted an increase in the “flat tax” of 5% on the payment of dividends from large companies in Europe. examination of the 2023 budget. The measure had fallen through, to the great relief of the government, thanks to the use of 49.3.
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