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"We are going to experience a wave of social plans"

2020-10-30T21:50:49.026Z


INTERVIEW - Laurent Burelle, who chairs Afep, the French Association of Private Companies, welcomes the action of the executive.


Laurent Burelle (Plastic Omnium) chairs the French Association of Private Companies, the powerful Afep, which brings together the largest French groups.

LE FIGARO.

- France is plunging back into confinement.

Do you fear a collapse of the economy?

Laurent BURELLE.

-

Last spring we had this experience, unprecedented in modern history, of a total shutdown of the country.

Companies have overcome it, employees have mobilized, essential functions have been provided, and the State has taken radical and generous measures.

The second wave promises to be more serious because companies are weakened by the efforts already made.

The new containment measures, no doubt essential, are severe and will have a considerable impact on the economy.

This confinement is however a little different from the first ...

Indeed.

Leaving schools open is in particular an essential element in achieving the goal that must unite us all: saving businesses and jobs.

But let's not kid ourselves: with this second wave, we are also going to experience a wave of social plans and especially for small businesses which had very trying 2019 and 2020.

But large companies are not immune.

We must pay particular attention to companies that are on the wrong side of the barrier: hotels, restaurants, events, culture, tourism, automotive and aeronautics.

These are sectors in which we have large global groups such as Accor, Airbus etc ... This crisis should not be an opportunity for our Chinese and American competitors to get us out of the game. Hence the importance of public support that are implemented.

To read also: Audrey Richard: "HRDs fight for the survival of companies"

Do we not risk a massacre in SMEs?

This subject is of great concern to us.

AFEP member groups, since the start of the health crisis, have reduced their payment terms by two days to support the cash flow of their suppliers.

None of our members, despite the difficulties, extended theirs.

Some even accelerated their payments.

It is an imperative that I take care of personally.

An ambiguity remains, among employers, on teleworking.

Should we accelerate the movement?

This second confinement makes it necessary to strengthen teleworking, which is a formidable tool in these exceptional circumstances.

But we must also be aware of its perverse effects which tend to "defibrate" the company, to create a dichotomy between two categories of employees.

I don't believe that the model of tomorrow will be a fully paperless business.

We see it clearly in our large groups.

Many employees want to continue coming to work.

Many criticize the executive for not having been able to anticipate this second wave, for lacking so much agility that we have, again, no other choice than the medieval solution of confinement ...

Like everywhere else, in Germany, England, Holland!

According to the American Johns Hopkins University, the number of deaths in France per 100,000 inhabitants is one of the lowest in Europe.

I refuse the ease of "there's only one, we have to" which is the privilege of the spectator.

We are at war, now is not the time to attack our leaders.

I trust them.

Running a country is not running a business.

Accusing a sitting Minister of Health, a man who works day and night, of knowingly doing wrong is not admissible.

And on the economic front, the government and Bruno Le Maire have shown exemplary responsiveness.

But remember that public safety is the first of our rights.

That the government reacts concretely quickly and strongly and all of France will follow!

Read also: Reconfinement: the automotive sector grits its teeth

Here is an unprecedented tribute to the State from Afep!

Indeed.

This may be a first.

The time for critical commentary will come after the crisis.

Is the recovery plan presented in September up to the challenge?

The amounts involved are unprecedented.

And the choice made to stick to the ambitions of the European “green deal”, which is a ten-year strategy, is the right one.

This plan should enable Europe to become, through innovation and investment, an ecological model and a technological champion, with an export vocation.

It is a way to protect our businesses and our jobs, as long as we do not inflame the debate with false subjects like the one we have seen develop on 5G, on advertising or on the weight of cars.

This plan provides for a massive reduction in production taxes, but nothing in return.

What counterparties can companies commit to?

The terms of this debate are badly posed.

It is not a question of saying to companies: "lend me your watch, I will tell you the time!"

The production taxes we are talking about are four times higher than those paid by German companies.

With the 20 billion euros of abolition of the former CICE, and these 10 billion of reduction in production taxes, we are not even bridging the gap between Germany and France.

This reduction in the tax burden is a condition for the survival of our companies, their productivity, their investments, and their ability to export.

This is French employment we are talking about here!

Some are calling for commitments in multiple areas, but the subjects of value sharing in the form of incentive and participation plans, parity, the feminization of governing bodies, the fight against global warming, are already an integral part. of the strategy pursued by our major groups.

Can you give pledges of relocation of activity?

It took 40 years, the time of a generation, in this case mine, for our French companies to succeed in expanding internationally.

There are more French companies (19) than German (14) in the top 50 European groups.

These are all corporate tax revenues and dividends from our foreign subsidiaries that flow to France.

The factories will not be repatriated.

But we are determined to locate new activities in France with higher technological content.

The ecological transition is a magnificent opportunity.

Read also: How the Covid-19 transformed the face of the CAC 40

Will Afep companies renounce paying dividends?

In the first half of the year, the profits of CAC 40 companies were reduced to zero against 40 billion euros a year earlier.

The sum of dividends distributed for 2019 decreased by 42%, where we had committed to a reduction of 25%.

Is this good news?

I'm not sure of it.

We already know that the results of our companies in 2020 will be much worse than the results of 2019. But let us not create short-sighted constraints which, in the long term, would make our groups prey.

Politics must not manipulate the market.

So you don't believe in the emergence of a “new capitalism”, ardently defended by some of your members?

Each new generation believes that it has made a clean sweep of the past and in view of the recent behavior of certain groups, I see that today's capitalism is very similar to the old.

Nevertheless, the shareholders of our groups have a high social conscience and a strong desire to integrate the energy transition as a vector of future success for our companies.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2020-10-30

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