Work, salary, ecology…: the government urges companies to take their responsibilities
A press conference resembling a general policy speech. A setting to music of presidential priorities with the false air of re-orchestration of projects and compilation of promises already planned. All this, exactly one year after the start of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term and at the dawn of “100 days of appeasement” and reconquest, wanted by the Head of State, at the end of the pension reform. It is an understatement to say that Elisabeth Borne indulged, this April 26, in a very funny exercise in a funny timing, in this political period which is just as much.
Revitalized social dialogue
At the Élysée, behind a desk announcing the “presentation of the roadmap and the legislative agenda”, the head of government therefore unrolled, for half an hour, the program of the executive until the fall – the famous 100-day deadline with a more or less extendable lifespan, depending on the subject. “We are entering a new phase of action”, assured Élisabeth Borne from the outset. With a key word for the government: “accelerate”, but not alone.
“With the social partners, we want to renew a peaceful and constructive dialogue and leave them more initiatives and responsibilities”, she thus launched, in a new appeal to the unions, still angry at the pension reform. . Stated objective: to achieve, “by July 14”, to co-construct “a social agenda for a new pact for life at work. Career prospects and retraining, prevention of professional wear and tear, employment of seniors, account universal time savings, following the reform of unemployment insurance… all the subjects are on the table to improve life at work”, explained the Prime Minister.
The index and the CDI seniors, present in the pension reform but censored by the Constitutional Council, are therefore a priori referred to these negotiations. As a pledge of her respect for social dialogue, Élisabeth Borne also promises to devote a specific bill to the national interprofessional agreement (ANI) on value sharing, concluded in February by employers and unions. This “delicate work” of transposition will be carried out “in the next three months”, without further details. Emptied of these various subjects, the promised text on “full employment” will ultimately be limited to the creation of “France Travail”. This project aims to establish a “more efficient public employment service at national and territorial level”, supposed, among other things, to “better meet the needs of employers”.
A double call to raise wages
On wages, on the other hand, the government doctrine does not change an inch. “We must collectively act to [les] revalorize”, explains Élisabeth Borne, when a new automatic increase of the minimum wage to 1er may. Hence the now usual double appeal of the Prime Minister: one to companies which “must take their part” in raising the remuneration of their staff, “in particular by offering real career progression”; the other to the professional branches, invited to open negotiations “as soon as possible” on the updating of their salary grids.
Inflation, ecology…: the companies expected at the turn
And that’s not all: the government expects companies to “do their part” on several other issues. Starting with the fight against inflation, especially food. Whether the state has already “taken strong measures”, companies must also contribute to the effort, requires Élisabeth Borne. It is therefore up to distributors to “act on their margins” and to manufacturers to “accept renegotiations, when the price of raw materials has fallen”.
Same logic on climate issues: it is necessary “that everyone contributes to the height of what they can do, detailed the Prime Minister. Half of the efforts to be made will therefore be requested from companies, and in particular large ones.” In this respect, the “ecological transition contracts” and other decarbonization strategies, requested from industrial sectors and 50 most polluting sites in the country, will be “finalized at the end of June”. This same month will also be presented a “concrete action plan” against greenhouse gas emissions from air transport, as well as an “overall vision” of ecological planning. Consultations will follow to draw up an “energy-climate programming bill” by the fall.
The text of support for the “green industry” will be announced in mid-May, for consideration in Parliament this summer. Another environmental subject in the pipes, in addition to the sobriety plan on the water already unveiled : the promotion of a “new management of our forests”. Finally, the low-cost rental of clean vehicles (Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise) should see the light of day in the fall.
New measures against the new housing crisis
Among the other projects swept by Élisabeth Borne are also the Bercy anti-fraud plan (presentation in May, first applications “before the summer”), or housing support measures – a rare novelty unveiled during this press conference . The Caisse des Dépôts will in particular be called to the rescue to “buy new homes that are struggling to find buyers and thus unlock the pending programs”.
Immigration law finally pushed back
Finally, in the development of this very detailed agenda, the head of government recognized a failure: contrary to what Emmanuel Macron had planned, the immigration bill, and its controversial temporary residence permit for jobs in shortage of recruitment, will not see the light of day before the summer, but rather in the fall. Blame it on the lack of a majority “to vote for such a text”, admitted Elisabeth Borne.
“Besides, this is not the time to start a debate on a subject that could divide the country,” she euphemised. As a half-word admission that it will probably take more than 100 days to digest the pension reform and continue to “move forward” in a country and with a Parliament never so divided since the accession to power of the President of the Republic .
