- Since this week, the Ministry of Labor has been consulting union and employer organizations on the development of the partial unemployment scheme to support the recovery.
- The idea of reducing partial unemployment to 60% of the net salary of employees, mentioned in the daily Les Echos to follow the German model, bristles employers' organizations and unions.
- Medef claims to wait at least three months to change the compensation rules, while the unions defend the principle.
The spirits are heating up on the evolution of the partial unemployment system. While it is set to evolve to take account of the economic recovery, discussions have begun between the social partners and the executive to define where to place the cursor for the State to take charge of the salaries of those who were forced to pause following the pandemic.
A sensible subject. The idea of a support which would drop to 60% of net salary (against 84% currently), mentioned this Thursday in the daily Les Echos in the event that the German model would serve as a source of inspiration, bristles both the employers than unions. If the executive looks closely at the Kurzarbeit system (see our box) according to the economic daily, the Ministry of Labor, requested by 20 Minutes , has not yet revealed its intentions. Discussions with the social partners must indeed continue this Friday and next Monday with, in the meantime, the address by Emmanuel Macron, expected this Sunday.
"An error to move the system" immediately
Meeting by the Association of Journalists for Social Information (Ajis) this Thursday, employers' organizations and trade unions defend a high level of compensation for short-time working. "Classic partial unemployment as it is today must continue," says Medef president Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux. He calls for "at least three months to pass" before reviewing the rules set since June 1. These already require employers to contribute to the compensation of their employees placed in partial activity, the State and Unédic no longer paying 70% of gross salary but 60%. The remuneration of employees in partial activity being, as we have said, maintained at around 84% of their net salary.
"It would be a mistake to move the system" before knowing the extent of requests for partial unemployment this summer, adds Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux. If there were 13.3 million claims between March 1 and June 8, 2020, it is possible, according to the leader of the employers' organization, that the effective coverage is not as high as 'at the time of requests. This would then contradict the idea that companies, become addicted to partial unemployment, would end up profiting from it, as some economists fear.
"There is a difference between the intentions of companies and the reality of what they have done," also argues Alain Griset, president of the Union of Local Businesses (U2P), which represents artisans, traders and liberal professions. He also calls for continued support, in particular to cover the additional costs linked to health constraints. "For a few months, there may be a loss of profitability, hence a risk of dismissal and closure", continues Alain Griset.
Support consumption
On the union side, we are also keen on these measures, both with a view to protecting jobs and maintaining consumption, on which economic recovery depends. "If it is a question of lowering the coverage for workers in the coming weeks and months, it is madness, warns the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger. It will be socially brutal, it is counter-intuitive with the revival of consumption, and it cannot be done like that. The employees did not choose this situation ”.
"If we worry the employees about the salary, they will not go to a restaurant, they will not spend much during their holidays and will probably not buy the 400,000 vehicles stored," argued Yves Veyrier, secretary general of Force Ouvrière.
Long-term device
The social partners are also waiting to know the details of the long-term partial activity, called "Weapon" (for reduced activity to maintain employment), precisely at the heart of the ongoing consultation. A decree is awaited on this subject. In any case, the objective of this system will be to allow companies to reduce the working hours of employees by receiving state aid for this, over a longer period.
"It is a useful device but not universal," criticizes Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, of Medef, however. According to him, "it takes an ability to predict its long-term cycle", which is not the case for all companies, while committing "not to do PES".
On France Info, Thursday morning, Laurent Berger demanded “a device which comes to compensate for the loss of remuneration and to subsidize the company so that it can pay 90% of its employees, and ensure that, for example, 10% are supported by training devices during this period of inactivity ”.
Review the rules of unemployment insurance
According to the trade union organizations, the crisis also requires a return to the unemployment insurance system, which has been tightened since last November and the second part of which - which would have changed the method of calculating the allowance - should have entered into force in April if the pandemic had not occurred. In early June, the Minister of Labor announced decisions "by the summer" on this subject.
According to the president of the CFTC, Cyril Chabanier, it would be "completely incoherent" to speak of partial activity and job retention without going back on the new rules of unemployment insurance already in place, which reduce the rights of employees occupying fixed-term contracts for short periods and impose decreasing allowances for managers.
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What does the German partial unemployment system look like?
Often cited as a model, access to partial activity in Germany was also made more flexible during the pandemic. On the other side of the Rhine, the State compensates 60% of the net salary of employees who are unemployed for four months. But if their working time is reduced by at least 50%, and from the fourth month, the compensation increases to 70% of the reference net salary, then to 80% from the seventh. Each of these rates is increased in the case of dependent children.
If this support is a priori unfavorable to the purchasing power of the employees, it should be noted that the professional branches and the companies supplement, via agreements concluded with trade unions, these devices to compensate for the losses of income for the employees, sometimes up to 100%, as in the film industry.
- Covid 19
- Economic crisis
- Union
- Unemployment
- Economy