"There is a broad consensus to admit that these workers should be paid more but when the sum is taken out individually, there is a risk of putting the work that is done in perspective", judge François-Xavier Devetter, who has just co-signed with Julie Valentin a book on "the future of cleaning trades in a fair society" (Two million workers and dust, Les petits matins, 2021).
The government announced Monday that companies could, as in 2019 and 2020, again pay in 2021 a tax-exempt premium exempt from social contributions of a maximum amount of 1.000 euros to all employees. Priority targets are those so-called second-line who receive the lowest salaries and whose presence in the field is essential in the midst of reconfinement in sixteen departments including Ile-de-France.
According to Mr. Devetter, they represent "from 3 to 5 million employees" including construction workers and delivery drivers, "very male trades", those in commerce and all trades related to cleaning and cleaning. home help, "who are feminized". "All these jobs have low pay levels, most often below 1,2 monthly minimum wage. Female jobs also have reduced working hours."
"Nothing is done without them"
The Covid-19 epidemic has revealed that "nothing is done without them" and "shed a very strong light on the weakness of their remuneration. Not only are they exposed but they are less than 1.000 euros per month: it was blatant for home helpers ".
"The crisis has also shown the dilution of employers, principals. With outsourcing, there are more and more intermediaries between the person who works and everything else. With the Covid, it shows when we are looking for who should provide the protective equipment, for example. "
For this teacher-researcher at Paris-1, the bonus announced Monday and left to the appreciation of employers is a problem. "People might not have any at all. Those who are multi-employers, who will they ask for? The employer will refer to the principal."
For Julie Valentin, "it is a bonus thought for full-time workers with a single employer, thought for a typical job that is not that of the employees to whom it is intended".
Among the avenues for upgrading these professions, "we must rethink the counting of working time," she insists. "There is no taking into account the passage from one mission to another, the recovery time, the consultation time for home helpers."
"The intervention time of home helpers in people is qualified as + productive time. + As the pricing is mainly hourly, it is these productive times that are paid, the other times not, or very little", explains François-Xavier. Devetter, from the University of Lille. "A started half-day must be a paid half-day. This exists in certain collective agreements that are a little more protective (arts and entertainment, audiovisual)."
For Mr. Devetter, "we bring in someone to do a job and it is this overall work that must be paid for. It is a way of putting the employer back to face its responsibilities". "We have to move towards a broader reconfiguration of these professions in order to de-specialize them."