Unemployment insurance reform: employers satisfied but cautious, unions worried

Employers showed themselves satisfied on Thursday March 28 with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's commitment not to increase taxes on businesses, while emphasizing that it is up to the social partners to develop the outlines of a future reform of unemployment insurance.

The president of Medef "well heard" Mr. Attal's "red line", Wednesday evening on TF1, not to increase taxes on companies, "among the most taxed in the world and which create jobs", underlined Patrick Martin in a press release.

“It is also our red line and we will be vigilant to ensure that it is not crossed,” he insisted.

Mr. Martin, at the head of the first organization representing employers, stressed that "the social partners will take up, when the time comes, a project for a new reform of unemployment insurance", as wished the Prime Minister.

“This reform is possible,” he conceded, without reacting directly to the measures that Mr. Attal seems to want, “but the objective of full employment that we share” will first be achieved “if economic activity recovers a satisfactory level.

The CPME, the second employers' organization, also considered the desire not to increase taxes "positive", and hoped that the commitment to completely eliminate the CVAE production tax (contribution on the added value of companies, Editor's note) would be kept. by the end of the five-year term.

“When France has more than three million compensated job seekers and, at the same time, business leaders are having the greatest difficulty recruiting, it is essential to act to promote a return to employment ", continues the CPME.

But she also emphasizes that it is up to the social partners to “take the necessary measures”. Even if, conceded on Sud Radio its president François Asselin, "even if we manage to sign an agreement, the State will take control again to put in place the cursors that it has in mind".

The CPME is "in favor of returning to the minimum duration of affiliation to benefit from compensation" - currently six months of work over the last two years - but "does not wish to reduce the amount" of that -this.

Mr. Asselin, on the other hand, said he was in favor of the planned reduction, from 18 to twelve months, of the duration of compensation, because after losing a job, "you have to get back into the job market as quickly as possible." , according to him.

Mr. Asselin criticized Mr. Attal's idea of ​​establishing a four-day work week. “I want to remain responsible for the organization of my business,” he said.

The CPME deplores that Mr. Attal did not mention the public debt or "the reform of public action" and the number of civil servants on Wednesday. “Concerning only the expenditure of social systems will not be enough” to restore public finances, she believes.

Finally, Marc Sanchez, general secretary of the SDI (Union of Independents and VSEs), which represents 25.000 very small businesses, also estimated that these small bosses were "relieved" by the confirmation that there would be no increase in taxes.

“However, filling the deficits with full employment is part of the Coué method which has already been at work for several months,” he noted in a press release.

According to him, VSEs "are far from being able to recruit en masse in a degraded economic context without a drastic change in the weight of the charges weighing on salaries".

For the SDI, what is needed is an “overhaul of a structurally failing system”, a solution “which requires political courage”, according to him.

A reform “to bring people back to employment”, says Vautrin

The Minister of Labor Catherine Vautrin assured Thursday on franceinfo that the reform of unemployment insurance announced Wednesday by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal aimed to "bring people back to employment" with an effort of support and training.

“The Prime Minister has opened avenues because our priority is social dialogue,” said the minister, who assured that “we are making this reform to bring people back to employment.”

To do this, we must “try to provide support as quickly as possible” because “the longer you stay unemployed, the less likely you are to find a job,” she argued.

Asked about the unemployment insurance surplus, Ms. Vautrin assured that “the trajectory is 11 billion in 2027” and recalled that this system “allows training to be financed”. “It is a social investment to support those who are unemployed because it allows them to bounce back,” she added.

Returning to the "pathways" mentioned by Gabriel Attal, who called for a new "global" reform of unemployment insurance by the fall, Ms. Vautrin explained that "what we can work on is, 'on the one hand, the conditions of affiliation'.

“How long do you have to work in a given period to benefit from unemployment?” Today “in two years, you have to have worked six months. That’s debatable,” she said.

Another subject would be "the duration of compensation", today 18 months as a general rule, she assured, recalling that the Prime Minister did not favor the track of the amount of compensation.

The head of government's announcements constitute "a negotiating position", she insisted.

Unemployment insurance reform deemed “unacceptable” for the CGT

The CGT described as "unacceptable" the announcement Wednesday evening March 27 by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal of a new reform of unemployment insurance, while the CFDT considered that this regime could not be a "variable budgetary adjustment".

“It is unacceptable in method and in substance, the only thing announced by Gabriel Attal this evening is again hitting the precarious or the unemployed,” Denis Gravouil, negotiator for the CGT in the negotiations on unemployment insurance.

“There had already been reductions in rights for seniors in the last unemployment reform and we would still have to add reductions in rights for the precarious, degressions, shorter durations of compensation for everyone”, a- he denounced.

CFDT number one Marylise Léon warns: “Be careful, the unemployment insurance system cannot be a state budgetary adjustment variable!”

“A new reform has been announced, this will not prevent us from completing the current negotiations and respecting our commitments, the CFDT will continue to push demands so that efforts are fairly distributed,” added the leader of the first French union in a message sent to the press.

François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC, considers that Gabriel Attal's announcement is "the characterization of what a populist speech is, that is to say ignoring the facts, defying reality without any state of soul".

"I am stunned by the tone, by the absolute cynicism of this speech which ignores what the situation of an unemployed person is: we are going to impose retaliatory measures on him as if he were responsible in part or in total for his situation. It’s false,” he expressed alarm to AFP.

The leader of the CFTC, Cyril Chabanier, said he was “very worried”. “Making it more difficult to access unemployment or lowering compensation is something that doesn’t work, it has never worked.”

Michel Beaugas (FO) for his part denounced "a beautiful fable" from the Prime Minister "according to which it is unemployment insurance which prevents employers from hiring".

Gabriel Attal announced on TF1 that he had asked the "Minister of Labor to prepare new negotiations" with a view to "a real, more comprehensive reform of unemployment insurance" this year, evoking several possible avenues such as reducing the duration of compensation “of several months”.

The head of government also mentioned the two other "tracks" for reforming unemployment insurance: namely touching on the minimum time one must have worked to benefit from unemployment - currently six months in the last two years - and the “unemployment benefit level”.