Major reshuffle of decentralised state employment services

State departmental and regional services in France are currently being reorganised; the restructuring began in January 2009. This reorganisation process makes major changes in particular to the directorates responsible for public employment and labour policy, and is therefore causing concern among trade unions. The trade unions have highlighted a lack of dialogue as well as their fears that the restructuring will lead to significant redundancies.

As of 1 January 2009, most of the French state’s decentralised services at regional and departmental level are going to progressively merge and/or be reorganised, with the creation of regional business, consumption, competition, labour and employment directorates (Directions régionales des entreprises, de la consommation, de la concurrence, du travail et de l’emploi, DIRECCTE).

Revision and modernisation of public policy

This reorganisation of decentralised state services is the result of the general revision of public policies (Révision générale des politiques publiques, RGPP). The latter process began on 10 July 2007 and aims to reduce state expenditure by examining in minute detail public policy relevance and implementation.

The Public Policy Modernisation Council ( Conseil de modernisation des politiques publiques_, CMPP_) decided in April 2008 to create DIRRECTE. Its aim is to bring together state business services at regional level and thereby create a one-stop shop; currently, numerous separate services are available, including the regional and departmental labour, employment and vocational training directorates (Directions régionales et Directions départementales du travail, de l’emploi et de la formation professionnelle, DRTEFP and DDTEFP). With DIRRECTE, public policies will now be implemented at regional level.

Pilot phase of new policy areas

Five pilot regions were selected to set up DIRECCTE during the autumn of 2008. The remaining DIRECCTE will be established during 2009. These directorates are split into the following three divisions:

• competition, consumption and fraud;

• business and skills development, employment and the labour market;

• labour policy.

From 1 January 2010, regional prefects will be responsible for the management of DIRECCTE. The labour policy division will be under the authority of the General Labour Directorate (Direction générale du travail, DGT), part of the Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, Family Affairs, Solidarity and Urban Affairs (Ministère du Travail, des Relations Sociales, de la Famille, de la Solidarité et de la Ville).

At departmental level, this policy distribution will no longer match the fields of expertise of the ministries. Therefore, two or three divisions will be placed under the authority of the department’s prefect. However, some of the DDTEFP remit and resources will be transferred to regional level.

Furthermore, the labour inspectorate services, which currently come under the authority of three ministries – labour, agriculture and transport – are merging as of January 2009. They will remain in departmental units connected to the new regional directorates (DIRECCTE).

Trade union views

A total of three trade unions are present in the Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, Family Affairs, Solidarity and Urban Affairs: the National Labour, Employment and Training Union (Syndicat national Travail Emploi Formation professionnelle, Syntef-CFDT), affiliated to the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT); the Labour and Social Affairs Union (SUD Travail Affaires sociales), affiliated to Solidarity, Unity, Democracy (Solidaire, Unitaire, Démocratique, SUD); and the National Labour, Training and Employment Union (Syndicat national unitaire Travail, Emploi, Formation, Insertion, SNU-TEFI), affiliated to the Unitary Union Federation (Fédération syndicale unitaire, FSU). All three trade unions have expressed concern about the measures.

Firstly, they have highlighted a lack of dialogue with the trade unions and that civil servants have not been informed about the process since the first circulars in June 2008.

Secondly, the trade unions fear that the reorganisation process will lead to major redundancies. The labour inspectorate modernisation plan, which was adopted in 2006, makes provision for the creation of 700 posts over the 2007–2010 period. One of the fears expressed by the trade unions is that the merger of the three specialised services and the transfer of almost 700 transport and agriculture civil servants to the Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, Family Affairs, Solidarity and Urban Affairs will place a doubt over at least some of the planned posts. The transfer of some staff also raises the issue of whether their status will be maintained in their new roles and the possibility of them returning to their original ministry. The trade unions are demanding guarantees, particularly with regard to support for civil servants.

Finally, the unions highlight the risks of a fragmentation of public employment policy with the transfer of some services to other structures and the co-management of some policies being brought into question. Moreover, some posts will disappear due to subcontracting to private sector companies. In addition, labour inspectors may experience feelings of isolation and a loss of independence.

The CGT Finance Federation (Fédération CGT – Finances), affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), in the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment (Ministère de l’Économie, de l’industrie et de l’emploi) is opposed to the creation of DIRECCTE and any merging of employment and finance. CGT criticises the dismantling of the Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, Family Affairs, Solidarity and Urban Affairs. It recalls the transfer of the General employment and vocational training department (Délégation générale à l’emploi et à la formation professionnelle, DGEFP) to the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment, and of the population and migration department to the Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-development (Ministère de l’immigration, de l’intégration, de l’identité nationale et du développement solidaire). CGT is demanding that the labour inspectorate should be maintained and developed at departmental level.

Commentary

The reorganisation of DDTEFP is getting underway in many departments, while the five pilot DIRECCTE are being established. The risk is that responsiveness and capacity for action will be lost – at a time when many companies are finding themselves in a weak or worsened economic situation. In the long term, the disappearance of DDTEFP could also deprive departmental prefects of an important source of economic and social information.

Annie Jolivet, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)