Unemployment insurance reform: last meeting on Tuesday amid disagreements between government and unions

The Minister of Labor, Élisabeth Borne, brings together the social partners for the last time on Tuesday on the controversial reform of unemployment insurance, determined to "

go to the end

" in a version "

adapted

" to the crisis, despite the "

deep disagreement

" reaffirmed by the unions.

The multilateral videoconference meeting, scheduled for 9 am, should allow "

discussion on the exit points of the consultation

" started in September 2020, according to the invitation sent to the five trade unions and three employers.

Concretely, the government should present its arbitrations and intends to finalize in the coming weeks the decree which will ratify the future rules of unemployment insurance.

Read also: The explosion of the unemployment insurance deficit

A little over a year from the presidential election, and while Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to chair a new social dialogue conference in mid-March, Élisabeth Borne insists that reform is "

necessary

".

It insists on "

two objectives

": the fight "

against precariousness, in particular excessive recourse to short contracts

" with the bonus-malus system for companies, and "

an issue of equity

" in the calculation of unemployment benefits.

"

We must go to the end of this reform

", she pleaded this week on Europe 1, while stressing that "

we must take into account the context, the situation of the labor market

".

Decided in July 2019 by the Philippe government after the failure of a social negotiation closely supervised by the executive, the reform then aimed to achieve savings of 1 to 1.3 billion per year, in particular by tightening the rules of compensation and taxing the abusive use of short contracts, all in a then dynamic labor market.

Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the government has repeatedly postponed its application.

Élisabeth Borne opened a consultation at the end of 2020, saying she was ready to discuss the "

parameters

" of the reform, but without abandoning its spirit.

"

We are ready to adapt the schedule

"

To adapt to the context, the Ministry of Labor has proposed several adjustments to the four main parameters: duration of affiliation to open up rights, method of calculating compensation, degression of the allowance and bonus-malus.

At the end of January, after a series of bilateral meetings, the ministry also indicated that it wanted to link certain parameters to a "

return to good fortune

", in other words to postpone their entry into force.

This should concern the rules on eligibility for unemployment insurance and the degression of the benefit, which should therefore evolve according to indicators linked to the state of the labor market.

“

We are ready to adapt the schedule.

We are also ready to adapt the rules taking into account the situation of the labor market

, ”insisted Élisabeth Borne this week.

"

I think that the employers 'and unions' organizations will be able to see that we have listened, that we have taken into account the comments, that indeed everyone does not necessarily agree, in the end indeed it is the government that decides, but that we have really adapted this reform,

”she continued.

"

Deep disagreement

" of the unions

But in a joint statement - a rare occurrence - published one week before the meeting, the five representative trade unions (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT and FO) reaffirmed their "

deep disagreement with the founding principle of this reform according to which the reduction in unemployment benefits would encourage a more rapid return to work

”.

For Yves Veyrier (FO), “

the watchword is 'we want to start from a blank sheet'

”.

But he fears that the government does not want to "

lose face

".

The head of state, Emmanuel Macron, "

wants to say that he has done something but he can see that the period is not suitable

", he said.

"

It is the squaring of the circle

", estimates François Hommeril (CFE-CGC), for whom Élisabeth Borne must "

pass the pill

" of a project of which she had "

the time to understand

" that "

it is a bad project

”.

“

I'm not very optimistic about Tuesday's arbitrations.

I think that there will be some

practical

efforts, but that will be insufficient,

”also said Cyril Chabanier (CFTC) on BFM Business, pleading that the meeting not be the last.

The only provision which finds favor in the eyes of the unions is the bonus-malus system, "

necessary to discourage employers abusing precarious contracts

". But this time, it is the employers who are reluctant.