France - En Greve
Are the French really always En Greve - on strike? It may seem that way. Imbued with the sans-culottes spirit of 1789 - one which holds that protest is good of itself - the French strike first and talk only (much) later. France is the country with the highest number of trade unions but the lowest percentage of union membership. In France the number of workers in unions stands at around 8 percent whereas the average in the rest of Europe is around 25 percent. The more radical unions like the CGT want to flex their muscles and try to win support from frustrated workers so they will be more eager to call a strike.
Strikes are common and are part of the social fabric of France but strikes do not pose a serious commercial risk to foreign or local investors. Labor tribunals (playing a role largely equivalent to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board in resolving labor disputes) are comprised of equal numbers of union and employer representatives. Appeals are possible to the level of the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest civil court.
It's part of the character of France to have these big social movements at a national level, that can last a long time. These movements are highly visible, can cause major disruption and are covered widely by the media both at home and abroad, which only adds to France's militant reputation. And when the French do strike, they also protest, loudly. It's part of the long French tradition of taking to the streets. The protests can be violent, which only increases the media attention and fuels the reputation.
Some say that France is generally in the middle of of the number of days lost to strikes in each country in Europe. Other experts in the field also claim the number of days lost to strikes in France has decreased notably since the 1970s. In reality, France sees more strikes each year than other developed European countries including the UK, Germany and Sweden, and they have been on the rise in recent years. While Greece and Spain have topped the tables for most strike days in recent years, since 2009 France has been at the top of the rankings.
While the rate of union membership in France (around 8% overall; 5% in the private sector and 14% in the public sector) has steadily declined to just over half the rate of union membership in the United States, French labor law provides an extensive institutional role for employee representatives and organized labor. This is due in part to the fact that union delegates represent all employees (nonmembers and members alike). In addition, at companies with 50 or more employees, management is required to establish and meet regularly with a workers’ council and employees’ health-and-safety council on an array of managerial decisions. As a result, many SMEs hover at employing no more than 49 employees; when they do cross the trip-wire, French unions continue to play a significant (even outsized) role in labor-management relations. Indeed, the top five unions and the top three employer associations (collectively known as the partenaires sociaux or social partners) have a statutory role in national-level negotiations.
France adopted an important labor reform commonly referred to as the ‘El Khomri law’ after the French Minister of Labor, Myriam El Khomri, in August 2016. The legislation was designed to revise France's Labor Code with the aim of making the country's labor market more flexible, which the government claimed would reduce unemployment. Within the law are limited provisions for companies to lay off workers, reductions to overtime payments for hours worked beyond France's statutory 35-hour workweek, and reductions to severance payments that workers are entitled to if their company has made them redundant.
President Emmanuel Macron on 22 September 2017 signed sweeping changes to France's complex labor code into law, sealing a signature reform after four months at the helm. The measures, which triggered mass protests, were designed to give employers more flexibility to negotiate pay and conditions with their workers and makes it easier to lay off staff.
In signing the measures, Macron was making good on a central campaign vow, overriding objections from some trade unions and the hard-left opposition. He believed that making the job market more flexible will help drive down the unemployment rate, now at 9.6 percent, but opponents said the reforms were a gift to bosses while workers will suffer more job insecurity. The reforms overhauled large parts of the 3,300-page labor code which details workers' rights, with some chapters dating back over a century.
The reforms gave small companies in particular more freedom to negotiate working conditions with their employees, rather than being bound by industry-wide collective agreements negotiated by trade unions, or the national labour code.
A cap was also set on the amount of compensation awarded by industrial courts in cases of unfair dismissal -- a key demand of bosses who complained that lengthy and costly court cases discourage them from hiring staff in the first place. This latter measure was one among several that were withdrawn from reforms implemented by Macron's Socialist predecessor François Hollande under intense pressure from the unions.
Philippe Martinez, the head of the most militant union, the CGT, said the reforms gave "full powers to employers" and vowed to press ahead with a series of strikes and demos. But the leaders of more moderate unions, including the CFDT -- the biggest private-sector union -- and the leftist Force Ouvriere had been more conciliatory and the CGT's street protests appeared to be losing steam.
On 10 October 2017 nine public sector unions epresenting more than five million workers engaged in a one-day strike to protest Emmanuel Macron's labor reforms. Schools, hospitals and transport were affected.
The previous one-day strikes called in September 2017 by the CGT union and the left-wing France Unbowed party had limited impact. Those strikes failed to clinch the support of other unions, which said they were willing to negotiate with the president over labor reforms.
Macron saw his poll numbers drop to nearly 30 percent this summer, but they have since risen slightly. He vowed to press on with his labor reform agenda.
Working conditions are generally excellent in France and workers are well-protected. The labor code sets minimum standards for working conditions including the workweek, layoffs, overtime, vacation and personal leave. The 35-hour work week (beyond which overtime compensation must be paid) is standard. Most French retire at age 62. Work contracts follow requirements stipulated in industry-wide collective bargaining agreements. For example, an employee of a large company who is laid off for economic reasons may benefit from training, short-term contracts, or transfer to another company.
Other labor standards are contained in collective agreements, usually negotiated by sector (at a national or regional level) by various trade union federations and employers' associations. Additionally, occupational health and safety committees are mandatory under French law in medium and large companies. When a company grows beyond 10 employees, it must begin to meet a wider range of administrative requirements; companies with 50 or more employees face a larger number of administrative and health regulations.
The authorities need to implement the remaining planned reforms of the training and apprenticeship systems to reduce skills mismatches, lower structural unemployment, and improve job opportunities for disadvantaged groups. Further measures could be considered to better align wages with productivity, reinforce training for youth, and strengthen work incentives of the unemployment system.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
