Unemployment insurance: the government rejects the idea of ​​​​a formal negotiation

The day of the examination in the Council of Ministers of the bill paving the way for a new unemployment insurance reform , we see a little more clearly on the way it will unfold. This reform, via a decree in the Council of State, will be done after consultation with the social partners, and not after a negotiation between them on the basis of the Larcher law or the law of 2018 which impose to propose it to them.

“On the issue of criteria, we are going to seize the trade unions and employers’ organizations within the framework of a consultation and I insist on this word”, declared this Wednesday the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, on France Info, while a some vagueness seemed to reign within the executive in recent weeks on the course he intended to follow .

The union letter

Words are important, especially in a context of stubborn relations of mistrust between the executive and the social partners since 2017. A consultation, specified Olivier Dussopt, means an “exchange, a discussion, these are proposals, counter- proposals (…) and in the end the government takes the decisions it has to take”. A negotiation, it, “is the search for a majority agreement both on the side of the trade unions and the employers’ organizations”.

The prospect of a negotiation seemed in any case badly engaged since neither the Medef, nor the CFDT wanted it since it would be circumscribed to the only modulation of the rules of compensation for the unemployed according to the economic situation . “When things are going very well, the rules must be more incentive and when things are less well, the rules must be more protective”, summed up the Minister of Labor, recalling the line of reform set by Emmanuel Macron.

The announcement of a joint position of the five representative trade union organizations against this reform project may have driven the point home, even if on the subject of unemployment insurance, the government knows that public opinion is not shifting, contrary to what it is doing on pensions.

It now remains to be seen what Olivier Dussopt will put on the consultation table. Without revealing too much, the Minister of Labor listed the three parameters that could change depending on the performance of the labor market: maximum duration of compensation, which is 24 months under 50, number of months to open rights (6 months out of the last 24 months), or amount of the allowance paid to the unemployed, even if this third factor is clearly almost excluded.

“We are in a period where we are taking measures to defend purchasing power. There would be a form of contradiction to go on the level of the indemnity”, he assured, promising the social partners “specific proposals on our orientation and which allow the debate”.

It also remains to be seen on what criterion to base oneself to agree that the job market is buoyant or that it is turning around. For this, the unemployment rate measured by INSEE within the meaning of the ILO, is a favorite. One thing is certain, the government wants to act quickly. The changes he wants to introduce will have to be simple so that Pôle emploi can quickly update its compensation software.