The deputies, who adopted the law on purchasing power overnight from Thursday to Friday, voted for an amendment allowing employees to convert their RTT not taken into salary, in agreement with their employer, within the framework of the examination of the amending finance bill this Friday.
MPs approved the measure by 154 votes to 55 at first reading.
“This is a purchasing power measure for all those who work,” said the Republican deputies behind the amendment. “It is part of the ambition (…) to better reward work and merit and to increase the net salaries of the French”, they continued.
“This measure should also allow companies to maintain a high level of activity in the face of the recruitment problems they are currently facing,” concluded the deputies who tabled the amendment.
The RN approves, the left rebels
The presidential majority, through Marc Ferracci (LREM), presented its own amendment to limit the measure in time, between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023. This time limit “must allow reflection and consultation on an even more ambitious system,” he explained. The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire also asked that the measure be capped at 7,500 euros.
The measure was supported by the National Rally: “We say yes without hesitation,” said Laurent Jacobelli.
On the left, the deputies protested against this measure: “Another way to circumvent salary increases”, according to the communist Jean-Marc Tellier.
The socialist deputy Arthur Delaporte tried to modify this amendment considering that in the state, it constituted “a circumvention of the rules on working time, which aim to preserve the interests and the health of employees”. He proposed sub-amendments so that the redemption of RTT is only possible after the agreement of the trade unions or to limit to five the number of RTT that the employee could convert into salary. But his proposals were rejected.
The Reduced Working Time (RTT) system allocates days or half-days of rest to employees whose working time exceeds 35 hours per week, which currently disappear if they are not taken.