A macroeconomist by training and graduate of the Strasbourg Faculty of Economics and Management, Erwann Tison is the director of studies of the Sapiens Institute think tank. In 2020 he published
A robot in my car: let's not miss the revolution of autonomous transport
at
MA Éditions.
To discover
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It's been a century since France last had the honor of hosting an event worthy of the Olympic Games.
A theoretically unifying moment that the nation greatly needs.
But 140 days before the deadline, polls show that the French do not have the Olympic flame.
Declaring themselves worried and skeptical about transport and security, they only note the many upheavals in the organization.
Opening ceremony with constantly reducing gauge, controversy over promotional posters, hiccups on the second-hand booksellers' square, theft of security-related data, continued inflation of ticketing, pollution of the Seine making it impassable or even housing shortages to welcome volunteers: there are many discouraging signs.
Result, instead of being enthusiastic about a possible new title for Teddy Riner and Clarisse Agbegnenou, hoping to see Kévin Mayer, Léon Marchand and Mathilde Gros crowned with laurels, or waiting for a medal for our basketball and handball teams. and football, we find ourselves doubting our country's ability to host such an event.
And it is not the announcement by the CGT of a notice filed in the three public functions - in addition to that of the RATP extending from February 5 to September 9 - which will reverse this feeling.
The fifteen million visitors expected this summer will have the privilege of discovering the capital as Parisians experience it every day, with its hampered traffic, its crowded metros, its polluted air and its prohibitive rents.
Foreign tourists will even have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the “French art of living”, discovering the joy of our strike notices and its small annoyances.
An experience much more faithful to reality than that conveyed by the series
Emily in Paris
.
This notice is enough to enrage.
It gives the impression - like the recent episode at the SNCF - that certain social partners are taking advantage of important moments for the population to obtain the highest possible ransom, being sure that their blocking strategy will pay off every time. .
Nevertheless, we must hear the message of the organizations calling for a strike, warning of a form of general unpreparedness, whether in the reception of firefighters, police officers and emergency workers on the Olympic site, or in the sizing of our capacities hospitable for such an event.
This notice can thus be an appeal from unions wishing to prevent possible unrest ahead of the Olympics.
If his motivation therefore seems legitimate, the recurrence of the process makes it inaudible.
If we want to put an end to this culture of conflict which attenuates the scope of this constitutional right, we will have to accept a modernization of our social matrix.
Erwann Tison
The right to strike is one of the foundations of our social democracies, an inalienable right nevertheless exercised within a certain framework.
The law of May 25, 1864 thus provides that it cannot hinder
“the attack on the free exercise of industry and work”
.
Its rapporteur Émile Ollivier added that we
were “not striking against the nation, but against our boss”
.
However, this weapon of massive social deterrence suffers from abusive use which undermines its fundamental usefulness.
If it is brandished today to alert public authorities to the risks weighing on the smooth running of the Olympic Games, the multiplication of seizures by groups seeking to satisfy their purely corporatist demands - such as the recent strike of SNCF controllers in time of departure on vacation - reduces its range and transforms a strong warning signal into a simple ringing too recurring to be audible.
After the Olympics, France will have to work to correct this dysfunction of social dialogue.
In this area, our country sadly stands out from its European neighbors, whether by its low unionization rate (10% compared to 23% on average in the EU) or by its high number of strike days per year (127 days per year per 1000 employees in France over the last decade, compared to 49 in Spain, 46 in Denmark, 19 in the Netherlands or 17 in Germany).
If we want to put an end to this culture of conflict which attenuates the scope of this constitutional right, we will have to accept a modernization of our social matrix.
The establishment of a union check to increase the rate of unionization of workers, the elimination of the monopoly in the first round of professional elections, the emergence of new avenues of salary expression within companies or the creation of service unions outside of companies are the avenues that we propose to achieve this.
These are means which, we hope, will make it possible to reconnect with a peaceful social dialogue, no longer characterized by the abusive and systematic use of the right to strike and the calling of other users to resolve internal conflicts.
The Olympic Games must be the showcase of French know-how, showing the quality of our tourist welcome, the excellence of our craftsmanship and our strength in the organization of international events.
They should not instead become the pavilion that bears witness to our negligence in terms of social dialogue.