Social Economy’ Sector Employers get Organised, and the CEGES elects new Chair

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The employers in the Social Economy’ sector, one of whose component associations has just elected a new Chair, are striving to obtain recognition, both for their very existence and their values.

When the new system for running social security was put in place in September 2004 (FR0410104F) through the intermediary of the National Union of Sickness Insurance Funds (Union nationale des caisses d’assurance maladie, UNCAM), some unions publicly expressed their disapproval of the fact that employers in the Social Economy’ or not-for-profit Sector (CEGES) were not represented in it as such.

In France, the Social Economy’ sector has some 760,000 companies and employs almost 2 million people. It is the sector in which job creation is the most dynamic. That is particularly evident in the new occupations like those in personal services, domestic service and integration into society.

Observers have highlighted the difficulty in identifying these employers and their actual fields of involvement considering their large numbers, and the changes in the domestic service industry for example (FR0408109F).

Employers in the Social Economy’ sector have been grouping together at various levels and using a variety of organisational bases in order to highlight their specific characteristics. According to them, the important thing is that the various movements within the Social Economy’ sector realise that the trend toward globalisation, which goes hand-in-hand with a willingness to model all enterprises after the capitalistic business model, requires that they obtain recognition for their own values. This is the commitment made by the Council for Businesses, Employers and Trade Associations in the Social Economy’ sector (Conseil des entreprises, employeurs et groupements de l’économie sociale, CEGES), and the Coalition of Representative Employers’ Associations in the Social Economy’ Sector (Union de syndicats et groupements d’employeurs représentatif dans l’économie sociale, USGERES).

The CEGES, almost ten years ago succeeded the National Mutual, Co-Operative and Voluntary Activities Liaison Committee (Comité national de liaison des activités mutualistes, coopératives et associatives, CNLAMCA), set up in 1970. It is comprised of: the Association of Social Economy’ sector Foundations (Association des fondations de l’économie sociale, ASFONDES); the College of Social Economy’ Sector Business Employers’ Associations (collège des syndicats d’employeurs des entreprises de l’économie sociale); the State Education Sector Mutual and Co-Operative Activities Co-Ordinating Committee (Comité de coordination des œuvres mutualistes et coopératives de l’éducation nationale, CCOMCEN); the Standing Conference of Regional Chambers of the Social Economy’ Sector (Conférence des Chambres régionales de l’économie sociale, CCRES); the National French Federation of Mutual Societies and Companies (Fédération Nationale de la Mutualité française, FNMF); the Mutual Insurance Companies Organisation (Groupement des entreprises mutuelles d’assurances, GEMA); and the National Co-Operatives Organisation (Groupement national de la coopération, GNC). The make-up of the CEGES allowed it to run its own slates of candidates for the first time in the 2002 labour tribunal elections (élections prud’homales) (FR0301107F).

The CEGES has aimed to swell its own ranks, in order to promote its members’ values, as well as get into a position in which it can have more significant input into broader social issues. Information and training constitute a major development thread that the incoming Chair of the CEGES, 63 year-old Jean-Claude Detilleux, CEO of the Crédit coopératif bank, who succeeded the Director of the Mutualité française (FNMF), Jean-Pierre Davant, in late January 2005, has grasped wholeheartedly.

The CEGES wants to embrace all the movements and sub-groups in the sector: voluntary organisations, co-operatives, mutual societies and employers’ associations.

The USGERES sees itself as also an active partner in the joint management of funds by employers and unions. Established in 1994 to manage vocational training funds and respond to the needs of companies in the Social Economy’ sector, this body is seeking to improve industrial relations in the Social Economy’ sector. Since then, it has organised joint think-tanks and working groups for drafting framework projects with the unions : the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff - General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l’encadrement - confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC), French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC), General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), General Confederation of Labour - Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail - Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) in several areas of industrial relations dialogue; the integration of young people into the workforce, vocational training, etc. The USGERES is thus aiming to act in the common interest of its members, i.e. mutual societies (with the Mutual Societies and Enterprises Employers’Association (Union des groupements d’employeurs mutualistes, UGEM), the co-operatives (with the General Confederation of Co-Operative Companies (Confédération générale des sociétés coopératives ouvrières de production, CGSCOP), the non-profitmaking bodies in the health and social sectors (with the National Association of Healthcare Co-ordinating organisations (Union nationale des associations coordinatrices de soins et de santé, UNACSS) and the National Association of Domestic Service Providers (Union nationale des associations du service à domicile, UNADMR) as well as entities developing and running social, cultural and sports activities.

The USGERES’ mission is to:

• Link employers’ organisations and institutional representative groups that comprise the Social Economy’ sector;

• Express the stances and concerns of its membership;

• Represent the Social Economy’ sector employers in their dealings with the government;

• Participate in all the national fora for dialogue.

In spite of great progress in organising Social Economy’ employers and making this sector more visible, collective bargaining are thus not so easy with employers Federations of certainly sector. On 9 February 2005, five unions, grouped together into a majority block (FR0411104F), and walked out of negotiations underway around the sports sector national collective agreement (CCNS), demanding that the bases for discussion at least be anchored in the statutory framework of the labour code.

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