Work more to earn more: faithful to the slogan popularized by Nicolas Sarkozy during his 2007 presidential campaign, LR deputies have paved the way for the redemption of unused RTT days. The measure, dubbed by the government, and adopted Friday, July 22 in the amending finance bill under discussion in parliament, is causing a stir.
Sixteen personalities including the ecologist Yannick Jadot, the academic Dominique Méda, specialists in working conditions and trade unionists have denounced “a Trojan horse of social regression” in a column published on Saturday July 30 on the website of the Sunday newspaper.
A time-limited device
The system adopted at first reading in the National Assembly provides that an employee can ask his employer to pay for unused RTT days, within the limit of a ceiling of €7,500. This additional remuneration will not be subject to tax or social security contributions.
The system was limited in time by an amendment resulting from the presidential majority, to cover a period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023.
Featured in the package aimed at supporting household purchasing power, “it will have the appeal of an immediate gain for the most modest employees”recognizes one of the signatories of the forum Olivier Mériaux, former former deputy director general of Anact (national agency for the improvement of working conditions).
individual negotiation
The signatories of the forum, however, fear the potential abuses of the device. Although it is theoretically voluntary, “this takeover of RTT will not be governed by a branch or company agreement but will be subject to individual negotiation between the employee and his employer”notes Olivier Mériaux, who is concerned about the real room for maneuver of an employee who would not wish to monetize his RTT.
In unison with the deputies of Nupes, the signatories especially deplore a provision, which, like the encouragement of overtime or the tripling of the Macron bonus “mainly serves to avoid dealing with the real subject of purchasing power: wage increases”.
win-win
For the LR deputies, supported by the deputies of the presidential majority, the measure is of the order of win-win. “Currently, companies are facing difficulties in recruiting, in making contracts and in meeting demand, and employees often have to give up their RTT days to support activity. We propose that they be compensated in cold hard cash”, thus pleaded during the debates the deputy LR Véronique Louwagie. It is, in any case, one more breach in these 35 hours which, without having been radically suppressed, are gradually bypassed.