The idea of the government to generalize the health pass in companies in order to curb the spread of the Omicron variant was received with cold, not to say icy conditions.
"Nothing has been done at this stage"
, reassured Élisabeth Borne on Monday, after a videoconference meeting on the subject with the social partners. It must be said that the Minister of Labor was able to realize at best the reserve expressed by her interlocutors, at worst of their hostility.
"What emerges from the discussions is that the trade unions are not in favor of it and that the employers' organizations (...) are wondering about the practical methods of implementation,"
she said.
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For Philippe Martinez, the boss of the CGT, who was represented at this meeting, generalizing the health pass in business would be
"absurd and totally ineffective"
.
Just that.
"We are opposed to it because it corresponds to a vaccination obligation.
We prefer (…) to strengthen barrier gestures, to encourage more vaccination rather than the introduction of this pass, ”
he said on France Inter.
Same story with FO.
"Better to convince and incite than to coerce"
, hammered Michel Beaugas, "Mr.
Employment ”of the power station.
Even the CFDT has been reluctant to the idea of extending the health pass in companies.
"We are not in favor of it because it is a poor response to the objectives sought
," explains Marylise Léon, the number two of the progressive union.
It is not with the health pass that we will protect the work collectives. Better to review and tighten the rules in force. And we will no longer encourage those who are reluctant to vaccinate. ”
For Franck Morel, associate lawyer in labor law at Flichy Grangé and former social advisor to Édouard Philippe in Matignon, a first step would be to extend the pass to all employees in contact with the public: shops, public transport, administrations ...
"For such a measure to be deemed constitutional, the government must show that it is acting in the general interest to fight against the health risk and protect individuals," he
notes.
Already high conflict
All the participants in the meeting pointed out the question of the puzzle of the control of the sanitary pass and especially of its responsibility.
"If the government wants to move towards compulsory vaccination, as Olivier Véran suggests, let it shoulder the burden rather than have it carried to the leaders of the companies and to the trade unions"
, pleads Cyril Chabanier, the president of the CFTC .
And above all, recalls the leader of the Christian powerhouse, that
"companies are not places of contamination"
.
All therefore proposed alternative avenues to the extension of the pass which, warns Marylise Léon,
“would only be effective with a complete vaccination schedule at least one month after its adoption by Parliament, that is to say. say no real effects before the end of February or the beginning of March ”
. And so that there
"perhaps other solutions to be implemented before this deadline"
if we want to slow down the propagation of the Omicron variant, of which the government made to the social partners
"an apocalyptic presentation, anticipating 100,000 contaminations by day at the end of December or the beginning of January "
. This is all the more so since the conflictuality in companies, on the issue of salary increases, is already significant and there is therefore no point in adding additional grounds for dispute ...
"Pedagogy or coercion to convince last recalcitrant is no longer useless
, notes Cyril Chabanier.
The only thing that can make them take the plunge is when a loved one develops a serious form. "
These avenues, if they were retained, would not require a law to be implemented quickly, a modification of the sanitary protocol in the company sufficient.
They range from the strengthening of teleworking (the social partners must indicate to Élisabeth Borne whether they prefer to go through an incentive or an obligation to use it three to four days a week) to a stronger mobilization of occupational medicine on site by through the prohibition of face-to-face meetings.
Another option, presented by the Minister of Labor, would be to extend the period of validity of screening tests to 72 hours, or even to authorize the use of self-tests.
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After Élisabeth Borne, it is Amélie de Montchalin, her counterpart in the civil service, who will discuss this Tuesday with her unions of civil servants the necessary braking measures to be implemented.
During the meeting with the Rue de Grenelle, the Medef indeed strongly insisted - without receiving opposition - that the public be concerned and that any additional restriction does not affect only the private ... Question of equity.
