2023-08-31 18:02:49
► “Let’s focus on cost control”
Eric ChevéePresident of Social Affairs at the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME)
Today, we make bad intentions and point the finger once again at business leaders. When they were necessary and possible because companies were able to finance, wage increases took place. The bosses are realistic and live in real life.
But the economic situation is deteriorating more and more, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, and now we are shouting “Stop the fire! » Activity is slowing down: the situation in the retail sector is not good, despite the end of a fine summer in terms of tourism; business bankruptcies continue to explode…
The inflationary discourse that we hear everywhere is in fact very demoralizing and pushes the French to save more. All this while some companies are still repaying their state-guaranteed loans (PGE), granted to avoid bankruptcies during the Covid crisis. So let’s stop asking them at all costs for salary increases, and focus instead on the necessary cost control.
Inflation is still difficult to predict: it fell in July, rose again in August(and reached 4.8% over one year, Ed). Moreover, we know that it does not affect everyone in the same way. The situations are very different from one company to another, from one market to another. This is why remuneration must remain a matter of companies or branches. A general increase in minimum wages is unimaginable!
When the rate of inflation increases rapidly, minimum wages are in fact quickly caught up by the Smic, which also increases since it is indexed to the general increase in prices. But the Labor Code already provides for the opening of exceptional collective negotiations for the revision of these salaries if they fall below the minimum wage.
In addition, the latest law (law for the protection of purchasing power, voted on August 16, 2022, editor’s note) shortened the time to start these negotiations from three months to forty-five days. We cannot pass new legislation every three months on the issue of branch wage negotiations! Time must be allowed for collective bargaining to take place. Business leaders respect the law: no one in France is paid below the minimum wage since it is prohibited. To say the opposite is to carry a populist discourse.
There are certainly branches currently “blocked”, where the negotiations have not led to a majority agreement. But it’s also because some professional federations have against them unions that oppose everything, and that prevent negotiations from moving forward.
► “There is room to increase wages”
Luc Matthewnational secretary of the CFDT, in charge of remuneration and purchasing power policies
The question of wages is directly linked to that of purchasing power, which is the number one problem for employees today. Even employers’ organizations agree on this fact. In the requests for aid for strike funds that we receive every day, 75% of the disputes are directly linked to wages.
Today, there is clearly room to increase salaries. The proof is that the margin rate of companies (profits on turnover, editor’s note) increased significantly at the start of 2023. It is now 0.5 points above its pre-Covid-19 level.
The wage increase that we are calling for does not depend on the size of the company. A small company can be as profitable as a large one. Obviously, in some professional sectors, it can be more complicated.
We are not asking to increase all salaries by 10%, that would be absurd and could plunge certain companies into certain difficulties. Social dialogue must be encouraged by taking into account the specificities of the branches. The question today is how to redistribute increases in wealth. Companies can do this through bonuses, but it must essentially be through wage increases.
First of all, the branches in which the conventional minimum wage is lower than the minimum wage, because of the successive increases in the latter according to inflation, must return to compliance with the legislation.
This concerns 95 of the 171 branches. Today, the government is threatening to merge them with other branches, which it has the right to do since the purchasing power law. But it’s too complicated. An incentive measure could be the conditioning of exemptions from social security contributions on low wages to compliance of minimum wages.
Behind this question, there is the problem of the compression of salary scales. During the last increase in the Smic, a branch suddenly found itself with 12 salary steps below the legal minimum wage. To see his remuneration increase, an employee concerned must cross 12 levels! It’s hard to imagine a career in this situation.
To avoid this kind of case, it is imperative to renegotiate these classification systems. In the law, it is marked that a negotiation must take place every five years. Today, they take place every ten years on average. It’s a real problem.
The social conference announced this Thursday, August 31 by the government must apparently relate to careers and branches located below the minimum wage. We don’t know much more at the moment. We have not been consulted beforehand, and no one has yet contacted us at this time.
#room #raise #wages