Received by Macron, what can employers and unions expect?

It is not yet the holidays for the social partners. Employers' organizations and trade unions have an appointment Tuesday morning at the Elysee for a social summit in the presence of Emmanuel Macron. Two hours of meetings to address the major reforms to come, including unemployment insurance and pensions, and have a flavor of first victory for these intermediate bodies as they believe have been, so far, left on the sidelines by the executive

Social partners dismissed. This is the first time the president has called such a social summit since the beginning of the five-year period, when François Hollande, he organized very regularly, in the form of great raout intermediate bodies. If Emmanuel Macron had seen unions and employers before the fall work orders and the reform of vocational training, no collective meeting had been set up, leaving the doubt of a different speech given to each. 19659003] More generally, the unions had the unpleasant impression of being permanently sidelined by an executive who was sure of his fact and of his legitimacy. "There is a problem of method", lamented Laurent Berger, number one of the CFDT, on Europe 1 last April. "There is a form of negation of the intermediate bodies that is far too strong and dangerous, the President of the Republic considers that he can do everything.It is a profound mistake.We do not transform society if we do not take those who are concerned with oneself and if one does not construct these transformations in the confrontation of different points of view. "

Taking the hand back. Tuesday's social summit is therefore a clear change in strategy. Côté Élysée, we seek to reassure by giving pledges of openness, which the social partners hope to take advantage. All met last Wednesday at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), to regain control of the political agenda and not leave the president alone to maneuver. This meeting allowed to share their priorities, their vision of the paritarism, but also to gauge themselves, whereas Force Ouvrière and the Medef have recently equipped themselves with new leaders, respectively Pascal Pavageau and Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux. If it is still too early to speak of a common front, it is clear that the social partners are determined to be heard, and believe that it will be easier if they know how to join their voices. "The goal was to do a tour of the table between us," said François Asselin, president of the CPME. All of them have agreed to meet again in September to, once again, keep their own schedule and not only depend on the "master of clocks."

Warnings. Beyond this takeover of the social agenda, the social partners took the opportunity to issue first warnings to Emmanuel Macron. Notably about the renegotiation of unemployment insurance that the president is calling for. "We can always renegotiate, but what room for maneuver will we have?", Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux observes in Le Monde . "If it is to go over the rights with a letter framing the government which, in fact, is already the conclusion of the negotiation, it will not work," warns for his part Laurent Berger on Radio Classique.

Macron remains comforted in his positions. If they have punched the table, can the social partners hope to regain a prominent place? Nothing is less sure. For the first year of the quinquennium has rather confirmed Emmanuel Macron in his positions: if the unions and employers do not start, then the reforms will be without them. The example of rail reform is, in this respect, eloquent. The nearly three-month-old strike did not undermine the government's resolve, and only the reformist unions, who accepted the bargaining game, saw some of their demands embedded in the bill during its review. by the Senate

The risk of failure In addition, the proposed renegotiation of unemployment insurance can be very risky. The subjects of disagreement are numerous between unions and employers, as on the taxation of short contracts for example. To engage in a negotiation is to expose oneself to failure. "I do not close the door, but I'm not sure that an agreement is possible," said Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux in Le Monde . François Asselin of the CPME hopes, he, to take the advantage by including in the scope of negotiation broader than what currently provides for the government, including the governance of Unédic. "It should also be asked collectively [cette] question," he said in The Opinion . "Currently, we negotiate with the guarantee of the state, but I think we must take all the responsibility, including the financial risk." To arrogate new prerogatives could thus be a way of returning to the game.

Be that as it may, unions and employers strongly hope, like Pascal Pavageau, "that there will be a front 17 July 2018 and one after, radically different in terms of method. "