Still at the top of the concerns of the French, the question of purchasing power crosses the programs of the three major political forces in presence with a view to early legislative elections. Yes yes New Popular Front (NFP) notably promises a radical boost to the minimum wage, Together and the National Rally (RN) each bet on the incentive employers to show themselves more magnanimous in terms of salary policy. THE pensions And immigration also fuel the projects of the opposition blocs, while the outgoing majority intends to stick to its two major laws on the subject. Overview of social promises of interest to the Construction.
Together
In its program unveiled on June 20, the Ensemble list (consisting in particular of the presidential party Renaissance and the MoDem) proposes to increase from €3,000 to €10,000 the annual amount of the value sharing bonus (PPV) that companies can pay ” without charges or taxes ” to their employees. This system, established by the “purchasing power” law of August 2022 after an experiment with the “Macron bonus”, flourishes in mid-sized companies and construction groups shortly after its entry into force. But a little less the following year, some of the employers having preferred to concentrate their efforts on salary increases strictly speaking. Francis Dubrac, CEO of Dubrac TP (400 employees, Seine-Saint-Denis), which now pays its employees a PPV of 1,000 euros each year, is for its part positive about the strengthening of the system. “Particularly given the restrictive release rules that apply to the distribution of sums linked to employee savings. Employees who receive small salaries need cash above all!” There is also talk of authorizing employers to pay the PPV monthly. “We will release salary increases between the minimum wage and €2,500 net by reforming business aid and the activity bonus”, also assures the presidential coalition.
While there is no question of going back on its April 2023 law reforming pensions, the Macronist camp intends to emphasize theemployment of seniors. “I propose the establishment of a bonus-malus for short contracts in the event of layoffs, as well as the senior index which had been censored by the Constitutional Council (due to its nature as a legislative rider within the project of law reforming pensions, Editor’s note)”, stated the Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on June 25, during a debate on TFI opposing him to president of the RN Jordan Bardella and at outgoing LFI deputy Manuel Bompard. Another idea: “ allow an unemployed senior to return to a lower-paid job than the one he previously occupied accumulate your new salary with a allocation unemployment up to the amount of the previous salary “.
Allow businesses toadapt working hours during periods of heat wave“especially for the highly exposed workers such as those in construction “, also appears in the program of the Macronist majority. Before the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly, the profession was also waiting for the publication of a decree on the subject for the summer.
New Popular Front
One of the emblematic promises on the NFP side (which includes, among others, the PS, LFI and the NPA) is to increase the minimum wage to 1,600 euros netwhich would represent an increase of almost 200 euros. As a reminder, following a 1.13% increase on January 1, the amount of the gross hourly minimum wage currently stands at 1,766.92 euros per month. At Dubrac TP, “where we employ a lot of low-skilled labor, we already offer these 1,600 euros, due to a competitive recruitment context, reports Francis Dubrac. But such a measure would generate demands across the entire pay chain who would be difficult for employers to manage “.
A minimum wage of 1,600 euros “would result in a rising labor costs“, adds an HR manager in the sector. And adds: “in our country, the median salary, which has increased significantly over the last three years, amounts to 2,500 euros net excluding bonuses. Such an increase in the minimum wage, which would mainly affect the lowest qualifications, would force companies to be more rigorous in the evolution of the payroll, with a freeze on remuneration. ” THE Those who are better off in this area would thus be penalized. For the recruiter, employers will have no choice but to to reflect this increase in labor costs in their prices. “Customers will sometimes have to make choices, especially since the NFP project also provides for a 10% increase in the index point for civil servants. This measure could therefore indirectly seize up the infrastructure investment machine “.
THE Union of independents and small businessesone of the only employers’ organisations to speak out in the context of these early legislative elections, even fears ” waves of layoffs and/or hiring freezes for [ses] companieswithout the employees in post deriving any concrete benefit from it”, because the increase in their salary would be accompanied by “the loss of social assistance calculated on the basis of remuneration”.
The NFP also counts indexing wages to inflation. Such measures would be partly financed by an additional contribution on high salaries. The left bloc still wantssubmit employee savings and overtime to contributions, but also “increase old-age contributions by 0.25 points per year for five years and adjust employer social contributions”.
Another big promise: repeal the pension reformand therefore bring back to begin with the legal age of departure 62 years for everyone then, before 2027, submit a bill to set the departure age at 60 years – for people with proof of 40 annuities. The NFP program also mentions “the restoration of arduous factors deleted by Emmanuel Macron. As a reminder, the hardship account, voted during the Hollande five-year term, had triggered an outcry from construction employers due to its complexity applied to construction professions. One of the “Macron” orders had removed the “hardship” criteria in 2017 ” of this system, thus depriving employees working on the construction sites the possibility of retiring up to two years earlier. The NFP also plans to “organize a national conference on work and hardship aimed at restoring the effective weekly working time to 35 hours, moving to 32 hours in difficult jobs or at night immediately and its extension through collective bargaining”.
The NFP finally promises torepeal the “immigration” law of January 2024. However, let’s bet that he would spare the new procedure for regularizing undocumented employees in professions in shortage, which primarily concerns the construction industry. The device, generally praised by Jean-Christophe Reponpresident of the Capeb at the time of its adoption, responds in particular to the needs of employers faced with administrative instability around residence permits which causes disruptions in the process. The left-wing coalition thus undertakes, if it comes to power, to “facilitate access to visas” as well as to “regularize workers and students”. Other ideas: ensure a authorization to work for asylum seekers and create climate displaced status.
National Rally
The system for jobs in tension is precisely in the RN’s sights. Jordan Bardella promises, if he becomes Prime Minister, the suspension by ministerial circular, from the month of July, “of all the regularizations of illegal immigrants by the prefects “. “Whoever thinks that France has too many immigrants should come and collect the trash or try their hand at using a jackhammer!” », asserts Francis Dubrac bluntly. “The public works sector, currently, is not even in tension, but in hypertension. While the prefectures are already overwhelmed, we need these regularizations to meet our labor needs, otherwise we will have to lay off employees whose residence permits have expired, thereby jeopardizing training within our companies.” The boss of Dubrac TP does not for a second consider eliminating the system, “while Giorgia Meloni herself (President of the Italian Council of Ministers, and head of the far-right party Brothers of Italy, Editor’s note), has resolved to carry out 40,000 regularizations.” In any case, the RN is considering, as part of a law “on emergency measures on immigration,” enshrining the “return of the offense of illegal residence.” sanctions against employers of illegal workers would also be seen reinforced.
In terms of remuneration, the Lepenist party also proposes allow companies to increase salaries by 10% up to three times the minimum wagein them exempting from the increase in employer contributions for three to five years.
L’repeal of the latest pension reformis also on the RN program. But after promising to restore retirement at 60, Jordan Bardella has indicated his intention to favor long careers, by limiting this right to people who started working before the age of 20“who have difficult jobs and do not have the chance to work in air-conditioned offices in the summer and heated in the winter”. It would also involve setting up a progressive system “which would revolve around a pivot age of 62 years on condition of proving 42 years of contributions “, specified the president of the RN on June 25 on TF1. For people who have started their career after 22 yearsL’The legal retirement age would thus be higher than 64 years. stopped by the last reform…
