Parliament extends experiment with "part-time work" scheme

"Shared work contract for employability purposes", more commonly known as "CDIE". This little-known system, launched in 2018 on an experimental basis, was extended for four years by a final vote of the Senate.

Dedicated to a very specific public, in the process of integration or reintegration (young people, seniors, long-term unemployed, etc.), this type of contract allows an employee to be hired by a company specializing in "shared work", which can then make them available to other structures with a view to carrying out missions.

The CDIE experiment having ended in 2023, the bill by MoDem MP Nicolas Turquois, adopted identically in January in the National Assembly, intends to relaunch it for four years, while readjusting its scope.

"Proposing a continuation of the CDIE as it stands would have been imprudent. Abandoning the experiment would have been a waste," summed up the Minister Delegate for Disabled People, Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq, who is in favour of the text.

Several parliamentarians have nevertheless noted the "controversy" surrounding this system due to the difficulties in evaluating it: only 5.000 CDIEs have been signed since 2018, according to a report from the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) dating from 2023 but only published in recent days.

The temporary employment sector is particularly up in arms against this specific contract. In a letter sent to senators on Tuesday evening, consulted by AFP, most of the unions in the sector have thus highlighted the "advantages" of the system, which "make it very attractive for user companies and likely to destabilize" employees with another type of contract, the temporary CDI (CDII).

The left, a minority in the Senate, took up these arguments, with the socialist Monique Lubin denouncing "a blow to labor law to satisfy questionable managerial policies."

The right and the centrist ranks, on the contrary, defended this model, which "offers flexibility to businesses in an uncertain economic environment", according to LR senator Frédérique Puissat.

The latter wanted to be reassuring about the text voted by Parliament, which tightens the eligibility criteria to "better target" the groups concerned, and strengthens the rights of employees compared to the initial experiment.