Paris, February 3, 2016 – Employer Representation: rejected by the Constitutional Council, Medef plays appeasement – The Express

Entering the first employers’ organization via a priority issue of constitutionality (QPC), the highest administrative court ruled “ with the constitution ” the decree providing to measure the weight of the organizations based the sheer number of their member companies.

“ By providing that the hearing of these organizations is measured based on the number of member companies, the legislature intended to ensure equal access to the representativeness of employers’ organizations, regardless the number of employees “, the Council has estimated.

“ The freedom to join the union of their choice (…) does not require that all employers’ organizations are recognized as representative regardless of their hearing “, he has also held.

The Constitutional Council had been seized in August and October, via the State Council, the Medef and nine professional associations, such as the Union of Industrial and metal trades (IAJ) or the French banking Federation (FBF).

In recent wished “ cancellation for excess of power ” of an article of a decree published June 10, 2015, on the implementation of the reform the employer’s representative, provided for by the law of 5 March 2014.

This reform aims to measure the audience of employers’ organizations, needed for the distribution of seats in the joint bodies and that of paritarism financing fund , in terms of the number of member companies, without weighting that by their number of employees or turnover.

This accounting method discriminates Medef, which represents primarily large companies, compared with other business organizations such as the CGPME, UPA (artisans).

– The funding involved –

“ The requests of representatives of large companies, under false pretenses, aimed in fact to be entrusted almost exclusively way seats and funding “awarded to employers, said Wednesday the UPA, describing the choice of the constitutional Council” setback scathing “to the Medef.

The decision “ departs the primacy of very large companies on all other ,” added UNAPL (professional), welcoming the “ wise “high juridicition.

When contacted by AFP, the president of the CGPME François Asselin also welcomed, saying the Medef was not “ very inspired .” “ Businesses need a welded employers. We must not turn away from that our goal is to serve businesses “, he said, however.

Prudent, Medef said his side take “ act ” the rejection of his QPC, playing the card of appeasement. “ We are responsible organizations and seek with CGPME ways of taking into account the weight of employees, while retaining the criterion of the number of enterprises ,” said he said.

The Vice President of MEDEF Alexander Saubot however regretted the decision of the Council. “ To say that a garage owner who employs four weighs the same in the employer’s representative that Renault, which employs more than 100,000 people in France, it asks me “, he regretted during a meeting with journalists.

The question of the employer’s representative chairs the meetings between employers’ organizations for many years, mainly because of the issue of access to the financing of gender mainstreaming.

Grants from the Joint Fund that feeds the social dialogue now account for nearly 73 million euros per year. And the law provides that they depend, from 2017, the measured representation, which could lose the Medef between 2 and 3 million euros, according to Le Figaro.

Faced with the difficulty of getting everyone to agree, the government passed an amendment in the summer asking employers’ organizations to agree quickly on the distribution criteria. The discussions, despite the appeal by the Medef, “ are still being ,” said a source employer who believes that an agreement could intervene quickly.