The government is not condemned to use section 49.3 of the constitution to adopt its texts. After an agreement between deputies and senators last week, the National Assembly, except for a last-minute surprise, should vote without difficulty on Tuesday, November 15, the reform of the unemployment insurance. And the Senate should decide on Thursday the 17th.
Majority in the Senate and crucial to achieving a positive vote in the National Assembly, the right has made its support pay dearly, especially by tightening access to unemployment insurance for employees on fixed-term or temporary contracts who refuse to go on permanent contracts.
No compensation for CDDs who refuse a CDI
Initially, the text proposed by the government was to extend the rules for compensation for the unemployed, which expired on 1eh November last year, and pave the way for the “countercyclicality of the system”, that is, a graduation of the unemployment insurance according to the situation on the labor market.
While companies say they are having trouble finding workers and the number of unfilled jobs remains high, some were surprised that at the end of their fixed-term contract or temporary period, people can benefit from unemployment insurance when denied a permanent contract offered by their employer. Reaffirming the Assembly’s removal of post-abandonment allowances—already at the initiative of Republicans—the Senate extended the measure to CDDs and temps, who would twice reject a proposal for a CDI.
If the government was against it, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne would have finally accepted for the sake of compromise. “I’m not sure this will worry many people because it will involve a complex procedure for the companies”assures the representative of Renaissance Marc Ferracci, rapporteur of the text of the assembly, according to which it will also be difficult for the Pôle emploi to judge the reasonableness of the CDI proposed by the company.
“We assume that the unemployed don’t want to work, but that’s not true”
“Yet when someone refuses a CDI after a CDD, it is because he prefers a better jobsweeps the general secretary of the CFDT, Laurent Berger. Employers must understand that with the fall in mass unemployment, the balance of power has reversed. This political compromise will therefore be ineffective, in addition to being unfair. »
And to remember that every other unemployed person is already not compensated. “We assume that the unemployed do not want to work, but that is not true, he points out. We need to focus on what prevents them from accepting a job and is not related to compensation, such as health or child care. »
The counter-cyclicality of the system is confirmed again, which the trade unions are also strongly against. “That’s the bad idea at the moment”, explained the Secretary General of the Force Ouvrière, Frédéric Souillot, to the Association of Social Information Journalists. “We always get the same flags! But the number of unfilled jobs is largely the same as before Covid: It is mainly part-time, short-term replacements and, above all, unattractive jobs…”
However, the senatorial right will have listened to the unions on one point, by refusing to completely leave the hand to the government for the reform of the unemployment insurance and by restoring a place for negotiation with the social partners.
Bonus-malus for companies using short contracts
At its request, the government will have to open a consultation of trade unions and employers on the management of unemployment insurance and its financial scope. They will even be able to override the government’s framework document (the previous negotiation in 2018 had failed due to an overly strict framework letter from the executive, impossible to respect in the general view).
“The LR group in the Senate insisted that the common system, which is the basis of the French social pact and which has been badly abused by the government recently, is at the heart of the management of unemployment insurance, welcome the senators LR. The Senate has put a brake on all nationalization, a constant temptation to Macronism for five years. »
The right-wing, however, fell foul of the bonus-malus of companies that made too much use of short contracts: while the Senate had emptied the system of its content, the original text from the National Assembly was restored. “It was a red line for us, explains Marc Ferracci. I believe that the text has been restored in its entirety. »
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One out of two unemployed people does not receive compensation
6.8 million people are registered with Pôle emploi, including 3.2 million in category A (unemployed, obliged to carry out positive research actions) and 2.3 million in category B and C (exercises reduced activity).
3.6 million jobseekers opened the right to compensation, but only 2.5 million are actually compensated (the rest are taken care of by Social Security, await compensation, perform sufficient activity, etc.).
According to the Ministry of Labor, around 30% of the eligible unemployed do not use unemployment insurance (due to ignorance of their rights, because the grant does not seem sufficiently attractive to them, or because they think they can quickly find a job).
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