2023-07-12 15:00:56
By Thomas Engrand
Posted 19 minutes ago, Updated 5 minutes ago
The Prime Minister welcomed “very constructive exchanges”. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
At Matignon, this Wednesday, a huge step seemed to have been taken since the pension reform in attitudes. However, concrete progress is still awaited.
Once is not custom, on the forecourt of Matignon, the information was not between the lines nor in the words but on the tone. At the end of two hours of meetings with the Prime Minister, unions and employers took the floor to take stock on the spot. An exercise to which the head of government then complied, accompanied by the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt.
After six months at knifepoint on the issue of pensions, culminating in a shortened meeting in early April, the atmosphere at the exit was relaxed and the smiles more natural. First to appear before the journalists, Marylise Léon, the new general secretary of the CFDT, underlined “a useful meeting” with “answers on the change of methodpromised. The sign that the beautiful promises of consultations, regularly repeated, during the first months, seem to materialize in the facts.
Naturally, not all the representatives present were so positive. A few minutes later, Sophie Binet took the floor, to immediately emphasize that “today’s meeting marks the appalling failure of the 100 days announced by the President of the Republic“. The starting point of a new era, she argues. “What we have started today is a recovery that marks the start of the next four years“, she added bravado.
In addition to the three other representative unions, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC, the three employers’ organizations were also involved. The opportunity for the newly elected president of Medef, Patrick Martin, to speak, with his predecessor at his side, but still for a few days number one in the organization, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, ready at any time to lend him helping hand in case of unexpected questions. The most recent number one present recalled that “the country needed social dialogue“and his attachment”to a dialogue that is as independent as possible“. The session of collective rejoicing ended with an intervention by the Prime Minister. She called the exchanges “very constructive“, and recalled”its confidence in social dialogue».
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The outlines of a diary
Behind these declarations of intent, announcements have been rare. The purpose of this meeting was to lay the foundations of the social agenda that will occupy the various actors during the coming months.
The first step was to define what depended on the autonomous agenda, that is to say managed freely by the joint bodies and the subjects which fell under article one of the Labor Code and therefore subject to a letter of government direction.
Several files were not unanimous. Thus, on the employers’ side, it was hoped that the question of the employment of seniors or the universal time savings account would fall into the first category. In the end, the second option is chosen. To the satisfaction of employee representatives. “A guidance document helps clarify the government’s objectives and therefore facilitates legislative transposition“, deciphered a few minutes after Marylise Léon.
On the other hand, we should not expect to see any progress in the coming weeks. The road is still long. Discussions should take place to develop guidance documents. These should be sent at the end of August. At the same time, an inter-union should be held, according to Sophie Binet. Then the negotiation should last until the spring of 2024 to hope for a transposition into law before the end of next year.
Read alsoWithout turning the page on pensions, the unions meet Elisabeth Borne to weigh in on the social agenda
In the shorter term, employers and unions should receive the framework letter on the new unemployment insurance agreement at the end of July, confirmed Matignon. Time is running out because the previous one must end on December 31 and the negotiations promise to be stormy. Several organizations hope indeed to reverse the previous reforms which modified the rules and the durations of compensation, against the opinion of the government. “The Prime Minister would have recalled being very attached to the criteria for 2021 and 2023“, reported François Hommeril, the president of the CFE-CGC at the end of the meeting. Nothing to worry about the number one of the CFDT who estimated to have “got what we wanted”.
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