The health pass required for some workers worries the social partners

The social partners welcome with suspicion the extension of the health pass voted on Sunday, and its obligation for certain employees.

In the coming weeks, nearly 4.5 million workers will have to present a validated health pass to be able to work, according to the Ministry of Labor.

That is to say a significant part of the working population which, like its employers, is worried about the entry into force of this measure.

To read also: "Health pass: does the situation really justify a suspension of freedoms?", By Chantal Delsol

As a reminder, the health pass can be validated by a vaccination certificate, a negative test of less than 48 hours or an immunity certificate for people who had Covid-19 less than six months ago. It is already effective in places of recreation and culture and will soon be in effect in other places, including coffee shops. It will be required for some employees, failing which their employment contract may be suspended, as will the “

payment of remuneration

” to the worker concerned.

This “

passport

” is perceived by the social partners as a heavy constraint on a daily basis for employees. In a press release titled

“Yes to vaccination! No to police and social regression! ”,

The CGT denounces the use of

“ threats and coercion ”

to encourage workers to vaccinate. A coercive method that also regrets the president of the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME), François Asselin. “

Using the stick is not the best way to do it,

judge the representative, who absolutely wants to avoid a re-containment.

Control is not our job, but we will be able to organize ourselves to do it, ”he

adds

.

"

Stick"

and

"blackmail"

This constraint is all the more badly experienced as it occurs in sectors that are already highly standardized outside the pandemic, such as catering or health.

"

In the hospital public service, we work under medical prescription, everything is laid out with an administrative burden which is logical but very painful,"

points out the secretary general of the health executives section at the CGT, Laurent Laporte.

And there we add the health pass! ”

Annoys the trade unionist

.

It is especially the sanctions promised to those who refuse to present a pass that exacerbate the feeling of fed up with the representatives.

Punitive measures deemed inappropriate and disproportionate.

First

,

the possibility of assigning an employee refusing to present a health pass "

within the company on another position not subject to this obligation

", is not convincing.

"

For small businesses, it's complicated to find other reclassification positions,"

said François Asselin of the CPME.

Threatened economic rebound

The possibility of suspending or firing an employee on a fixed-term contract or a recalcitrant temporary worker, is also the subject of concerns, including on the side of business leaders who see it as a lose-lose punishment. "

It does not give economic security to the employee and it does not give legal security to the employer"

, deplores François Asselineau. The strong man of the CPME castigates "

the legal-administrative no man's land"

around the layoffs linked to the past. An exceptional situation which could be a breeding ground for legal disputes “

for years”, he

judges. On the employee side, the prospect of a suspension of the employment contract without pay is worrying. "

We have the feeling of being subjected to blackmail,

declares Laurent Laporte.

How do you want to live without pay? ”

, he

wonders

.

Likewise, the vaccination obligation imposed on certain professions raises concerns.

The spokesperson for the SNPI CFE-CGC nursing union, Thierry Amouroux, considers that it comes to test a little more caregivers already exhausted,

"at the time when the fourth wave is looming in hospitals for mid-August"

.

Establishments where the workforce is overworked following the numerous departures since the start of the Covid-19, in exceptionally difficult working conditions.

In addition, the health pass risks being a risk for the cohesion of the teams.

"

We are talking about a very divisive subject which will divide workers, even if it is not 50% for and 50% against",

fears for his part Laurent Laporte.

Read also: Health pass: an application to fight against fraud and streamline queues

Among restaurateurs, the vice-president of the UMIH Restauration Jean Terlon is also worried about this "

source of tension"

between employees and bosses who are obliged to regularly check employee passes. The representative is alarmed to see this umpteenth constraint scare away potential recruits, while the hotel and catering industry is already facing labor shortages in the summer period of high activity. This situation, combined with the constraints, represents "

a risk for the economic rebound"

warns François Asselin.