Unemployment: social partners challenge funding from France Travail

Negotiations between the social partners on new unemployment insurance rules will become difficult this Friday. Participants are challenging the funding planned by the government for France Travail, which will replace Pôle emploi on January 1.

After the first meeting on the calendar, on September 12, negotiators meet in Paris at the headquarters of Unédic, which administers unemployment insurance. The goal is to try to find an agreement by November 10th. France Travail will need additional resources to support the nearly 2 million RSA beneficiaries for which it will be responsible, in addition to the unemployed.

Much to the dismay of the social partners, the executive wants to allocate 12-13% of its revenues to unemployment insurance (Unédic) by 2026, up from 11% today, according to a letter sent by the government to unions. and employers’ organizations on August 1. Medef disputes “fundamentally the elements of the framework document that proposes co-financing from Unédic France Travail,” recalled Hubert Mongon, leader of the negotiators of the main employers’ organization, in early September. According to him, “we cannot accept the fact that the state continues to dilute the responsibilities and methods of financing various employment policies.”

Medef’s doubts

“Trade unions say together that the framework letter on unemployment insurance is unacceptable, that they refuse to comply with it and want to be able to negotiate with full autonomy,” Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, said on Thursday. . “All trade union organizations agree that we are going to push the frame “, also assured the number one of FO Frédéric Souillot, for whom “once again state dealers want to get their money back” from social partners.

The 2018 law requires social partners to negotiate within the framework defined by the government, recalls Renaissance MP Mark Ferracci. “The social partners may not want to comply with the framework document provided by law. But in this case, the government will have the right not to approve the signed agreement. »

Hubert Mongon expresses doubts about the size of the unemployment insurance surplus planned by the government for the coming years and which will allow Unédic to make large contributions. “We see significant discrepancies between the work done by Unédic this summer and the macroeconomic elements proposed to us by the government” regarding the rise or evolution of unemployment in the coming years,” explains the employers’ negotiator. According to him, Unédic experts should present new forecasts to the negotiators.

Shortened compensation period from February 1

Apart from the short time allotted for this, the framework set by the government consolidates the reforms already undertaken in recent years. The social partners are therefore prohibited from questioning the compensation calculation method, which since 2019 has become less favorable to job seekers alternating between unemployment and short-term contracts. There is also no question of returning to the modulation of compensation rules depending on the economic situation: from February 1, 2023, the compensation period has been reduced by 25% and will be extended only in the event of a significant deterioration in the economic situation.

This measure, like the new method of calculating compensation, is defended by employers. The latter, on the other hand, is opposed to “bonus-malus”, this upward or downward modulation of the unemployment insurance premium rate of companies in certain sectors (for example, transport) that abuse insecure contracts.