MEDEF president highlights successes

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France's MEDEF employers' confederation held its annual general assembly in January 2005. Its president, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, whose term expires at the end of 2005, presented what he saw as rather positive outcomes from MEDEF's activities and expressed the desire to see reforms such as that planned by the government for the 35-hour week continued.

The annual general assembly of the Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des Entreprises de France, MEDEF) employers' confederation, held on 18 January 2005 and attended by some 4,700 delegates, was unusual for a number of reasons. First, the battles waged by employers against the 35-hour working week legislation seem to have borne some fruit. Second, it was the last assembly for the outgoing president, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, who is beginning his final year in a position he has held since December 1997 (FR9712188N). He has made clear his intention not to stand for re-election.

Mr Seillière has gone on record as wanting his successor to be selected prior to June 2005. According to MEDEF’s rules, applications for the position of president can be made no later than two months before the date set for an election. The candidates must belong to a company that is a paid-up member of the MEDEF, or one of its constituent bodies, and have an expression of support signed by 50 members of the general assembly with voting rights (the MEDEF has a membership of 700,000). Although no one has yet declared a candidacy, rumours are already rife. Two main tendencies exist, with the supporters of a trend more anchored in a 'neo-liberal' approach on one side, and those strongly in favour of the development of collective bargaining and an industrial relations model based on equal representation of employers and employees on the other. Some observers feel that the next chair was probably one of the speakers at the 2005 assembly.

In his speech to the assembly, Mr Seillière reviewed his activity as president. Certain commentators have observed that he kept the keynote speaker spot for himself, while in past years he had invited high-profile politicians such as Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (FR0302101N) and the chair of the European Convention, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing to address the meeting.

The MEDEF chair welcomed the government’s recently announced reforms -which include measures to increase employment and amend some working time rules (FR0501101N). He claimed that MEDEF’s work in the struggle against the 35-hour week has paid off. This, he maintained, has enabled the slogan 'time for myself, a job for someone else', to be exchanged for that endorsed by MEDEF at its extraordinary congress in 2002 (FR0202103N), which states: 'In France, people want to work more to earn more.' In this context, he applauded the role played by MEDEF's 'industrial relations overhaul' process (FR0102134F), initially labelled the 'new social constitution' when it was launched in 1999 (FR9912122F). He therefore concluded that, thanks to MEDEF’s work in many areas since 1998, the country’s position has shifted quite favourably, in areas from pensions to social security, from joint management by employers and unions to taxation, and from reintegration in the workforce to vocational training. In passing, he criticised various strikes being held the same day as the MEDEF assembly (FR0501102F).

After expressing a desire to see current reforms carried through, the MEDEF president identified new priority areas for action 'to free business': tax cuts for businesses; the reform of labour law; freedom for companies to negotiate directly with their employees on the organisation of work; and closer ties between education and business.

In the opinion of Mr Seillière, MEDEF has become a powerful and resolute organisation, a 'force for modernity' fully playing the role assigned to it in the struggle for the transformation of France and the success of the country.