New outcry on the union side. Reacting to the words of Emmanuel Macron, who called on Sunday to " work and produce more " to strengthen the economy, several representatives of union organizations reiterated their fierce opposition to this principle, if it does not translate into a simple drop in unemployment. Work all, yes, but work more, no, they said.
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The presidential speech was " ambiguous ", criticized the secretary general of FO, Yves Veyrier: " If that is to say that those who have a job, we will ask them to roll up their sleeves, as we heard during the period of confinement, if it is to go beyond 35h, even even beyond 48h, if it is to cut down on days off, days off, open on Sunday even more than today, it will not work, we will not agree, "he warned.
For his part, the head of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, said he feared that the President of the Republic would “ repeat the blow of Act II ”: “ after the“ yellow vests ”, he said that nothing would be like before ”, he recalled, implying that these promises of the past had not been respected. And this, while Emmanuel Macron reiterated, Sunday, that there would be " no turning back " after the health crisis. " The fact of saying that we must work more is the declination that there will be no turning back, " quipped Philippe Martinez.
The CFDT is just as clear-cut: " if it is a question of extending the weekly working time or the working time over life, it is irrelevant ", warned Laurent Berger. No retreat of the retirement age or discussion on the 35h, therefore.
Work "all" rather than work "more"
The three union representatives agree on the idea of " another " solution to strengthen economic recovery: that of favoring employment for all over an increase in working hours. Questioning the 35-hour week would be " counter-productive ", risking parasitic the fall in unemployment while the number of job seekers should " explode " in the coming weeks, considered Yves Veyrier. If it is a question of " creating jobs ", of relocating, " it is ok ", but if it is necessary "to ask those who have a job to roll up their sleeves, to go beyond the 35 hours " , it's no, hammered the leader. The head of the Force Ouvrière also criticized the use of collective performance agreements, which allow a company to adapt its working conditions to the economic situation: this “ little music that says that employees must be asked to make an effort on wages, leave "is" unfair ", he said.
Philippe Martinez, for his part, called for defining an “ other employment policy ”, based not on an increase in working time but on the creation of positions, thanks, in particular, to relocations as well as support for research and development to strengthen promising sectors: " working all is better than working more ", he summarized.
Likewise, Laurent Berger defended the idea of " working all and working better ". For the leader of the reformist union, this truly central question is more important than " old recipes that never worked ". In addition, it would be less confrontational, making it possible to prevent the social partners and the State from " screwing each other up with totems around which we would turn ". The CFDT chief also suggested “taking care of the integration of the young and the most vulnerable ”, seeing it as an example of avenues to explore.
A recurring debate
The positions of these social partners on this issue have been known for a long time. It must be said that the questioning of working hours leads, each time, to strong reactions from the unions. Thus, in April, an outcry had greeted the words of the head of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, who had estimated in our columns that it will be necessary “ to ask ourselves the question sooner or later of working time, public holidays and paid holidays to support the recovery and facilitate, by working a little more, the creation of additional growth ":" totally indecent "," funny idea "," old moons that return "," big mistake "," provocations [...] premature ”... The responses were not long in coming, forcing Medef to retreat quickly.
Conversely, employers' representatives appear to favor an increase in working time to support the economic recovery. " Today, we are looking to work more because we really have a demand problem, so before knowing if we will have to work more, we already need more work ", declared the head of the CPME, François Asselin, mid- may. In the longer term, "there will come a time when it may be necessary to ask the question: my country has done many things for me, what could I do for my country?" », He specified then. For the employer representative, working “ a little more ” could be “ one of the answers, but we are not there yet ”.
However, the government is advancing cautiously, as the subject remains explosive. Gérald Darmanin opened the door to negotiations at company level yesterday to increase working time if necessary. “ We have to stop deciding everything about Paris. We are not going to decide the working time of the French, "he said, praising a certain flexibility at the local level rather than a national reform of working time. His colleague Bruno Le Maire said that it meant above all " working all ": " It means that the greatest number of French people must be able to find work in a period when [...] we anticipate 800,000 job cuts in France ”. In other words, an increase in work and production will above all involve a drop in unemployment. The Minister does not " believe " that the number of leaves or hours of work should be affected.
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