CFDT and CFTC to sign corporate profit-sharing agreement

“We are delighted with the agreement which is an important step forward.” The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday welcomed the agreement reached between French employers and trade unions. Two of them, the CFDT and the CFTC, announced on Wednesday February 15 their intention to sign this agreement which aims to simplify and widen the sharing of company profits with employees, particularly among the smallest. “In these troubled and uncertain times, any gratification, any boost to purchasing power must be seized”, justifies the CFTC. However, she points out that “this one is not as ambitious as the country’s situation requires”.

After months of complicated negotiations, the Medef, the CPME and the U2P on the employers’ side and the CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC unions presented a text on Friday aimed in particular at widely generalizing devices such as profit-sharing, participation and value-sharing bonuses to all companies with more than 11 employees. Participation is a mechanism for redistributing profits, currently compulsory in companies with more than 50 employees, while profit-sharing is an optional bonus linked to results or non-financial performance, schemes which come with tax advantages.

Signature expected before February 22

The new text thus provides that companies between 11 and 49 employees which are profitable, that is to say whose net profit represents at least 1% of turnover for three consecutive years, “set up at least one device” value sharing from 1 January 2025. Companies with less than 11 employees “have the possibility” to share the profits with their employees. The agreement is open for signature by trade unions and employers’ organizations until February 22.

While the approval of the employers seems acquired, the text must also, to be validated, be signed by one or more trade union organizations displaying a representativeness of at least 30%, without opposition from other representative organizations of employees weighing at least 50 %.