The executive sees in this agreement proof that social dialogue is still possible, despite the tensions generated by the pension reform.

Concluded in February in a context of high inflation, the national interprofessional agreement (ANI) aims in particular to widely generalize measures such as profit-sharing, participation or value-sharing bonuses (PPV) to all companies with more than 11 employees, as well as to develop employee shareholding.

The text of the bill is a "faithful and integral transposition" of the agreement between social partners, Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt said Tuesday at a press conference.

"Any modification, any contribution in relation to the ANI, the government will only defend them with a consensus of the signatories of the ANI," he added.

The government aims to pass it before the end of the parliamentary session this summer.

Small businesses lagging behind

Participation is a profit redistribution mechanism, currently mandatory in companies with more than 50 employees, while profit-sharing is an optional bonus linked to non-financial results or performance, schemes that come with tax advantages.

But smaller companies are still lagging behind: 88.5% of employees in companies with more than 1,000 people benefited from a value-sharing scheme in 2020, compared to less than 20% in those with fewer than 50 employees, according to the Statistics Directorate of the Ministry of Labour (Dares).

The president of the Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, leaves the Elysée Palace in Paris, April 18, 2023 © Ludovic MARIN / AFP / Archives

To generalize these mechanisms, the agreement provides that companies with 11 to 49 employees that are profitable -- that is, their net profit represents at least 1% of turnover for three consecutive years -- "set up at least one mechanism" for value sharing from January 1, 2025.

Companies with fewer than 11 employees "have the possibility" of sharing profits with their employees, according to the ANI, signed by four out of five unions, with the exception of the CGT.

The government has chosen 2025 as the date of entry into force, contrary to the recommendation of a parliamentary report which recommended in early April a implementation "from 2024" given inflationary pressures.

"Risk of outbidding"

In February, the president of the Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, as the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, had called on the executive to respect the text of the ANI when it was transposed into a bill.

The boss of the bosses had estimated that "any unravelling" would constitute "a stab in the back of the social partners", and the union leader considered that a modification would be "a crook to social democracy".

The bill is limited to the measures of the agreement between unions and employers and does not include additional measures on "superprofits", mentioned by Emmanuel Macron at the end of March.

French President Emmanuel Macron, May 11, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP/Archives

Pointing to large companies devoting their "exceptional" income to share buybacks, the president had asked the government to think about ways to make workers "benefit" from this windfall.

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, had evoked, about companies with more than 5,000 employees, a possible "doubling" of the sums paid under the mechanisms of sharing the value.

In the National Assembly, "there is a risk of one-upmanship with subjects on superprofits and superdividends," said Olivier Dussopt.

With this bill, the executive also wants to turn the painful page on pensions.

After a rough resumption of contact with the unions, which are still demanding the repeal of the reform, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne received the main employers' organizations at the beginning of the week, the latter saying they were willing to discuss the employment of seniors.

© 2023 AFP