In early 2003, the French government suspended until July 2004 new provisions on redundancy procedures introduced by a 2002 'social modernisation' law, and gave the social partners an opportunity to negotiate over company restructuring. In June 2004, with little progress made in these talks, parliament extended the suspension of the relevant provisions until January 2005.
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In early 2003, the French government suspended until July 2004 new provisions on redundancy procedures introduced by a 2002 'social modernisation' law, and gave the social partners an opportunity to negotiate over company restructuring. In June 2004, with little progress made in these talks, parliament extended the suspension of the relevant provisions until January 2005.
Passed in January 2002 after a protracted debate (FR0201102F), the 'social modernisation' law contained, among other measures, provisions specifying the precise procedures to be followed in the event of collective redundancies (FR0101121F and FR0107172F). The Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF) employers' confederation and the then parliamentary opposition heavily criticised this law, passed by the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, considering that the procedures it imposed on businesses were too bureaucratic, time-consuming and complicated.
After the presidential and parliamentary elections in spring 2002, the new conservative government and governing coalition in parliament wanted new legislation in this field, and in January 2003 adopted a law that sought to give renewed impetus to collective bargaining on the issue of redundancies. The new law suspended nine redundancy-related articles of the social modernisation law, returning to the provisions set out in previous legislation for an 18-month period until 3 July 2004 (FR0311110T). The 2003 law provided for the option of extending this suspension by a year, on the condition that in the meantime, bargaining between the social partners had produced results on redundancy prevention procedures and rules on informing and consulting workers or their representatives that could be included in a new bill.
Intersectoral negotiations on restructuring launched in 2003 (FR0311106F) have not yet come to fruition in summer 2004. The trade unions have placed emphasis on: the criteria for retraining and redeployment schemes; informing and consulting workers and their representatives; training subsidies; forward-looking management of staffing levels; and including all workers in schemes, including those in small and medium-sized businesses (who are generally less well protected). The employers, and particularly MEDEF, want less bureaucracy, shorter deadlines between announcements and redundancies, and greater flexibility.
Given these stalled talks, the government has chosen not to pass legislation in this field immediately, preferring to allow the social partners more time. The governing coalition’s parliamentarians have taken up the issue. Senator Alain Gournac of the Union for a People's Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire, UMP) - the major party in the coalition - introduced a bill extending the suspension of the relevant articles of the social modernisation law by six months until 3 January 2005. This bill was passed by the Senate on 14 June 2004 and by the National Assembly on 21 June 2004.
The trade union confederations and employers’ associations with representative status now have six more months to relaunch negotiations that seem to have been going nowhere for some time. At the end of this six months, if bargaining still does not produce an agreement, it will be difficult for the government to wait any longer before introducing new legislation.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2004), Redundancy rules suspended for further six months, article.
