“We do not need to be summoned by the Prime Minister to meet” with the unions, assures the president of the CPME

“We do not need to be summoned by the Prime Minister to meet” with the unions, said Monday May 22 François Asselin, president of the Confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises (CPME). While the bosses are invited to Matignon on Monday, Elisabeth Borne wants a new meeting between the unions and the employers before the end of the month.

>> Tax cuts, unemployment insurance … What employers will ask during their meeting with Elisabeth Borne

“More freedom” to dialogue

“What we don’t really like between social partners is when we have a negotiation framework imposed on us before we even negotiate. It comes somewhere to fry the line”explained the president of the CPME. “What we expect from our government is quite simply to leave us these major chapters that we must begin between social partners with the greatest possible freedom”he added.

Among these major chapters, there is the question of salaries. The trade unions want public aid to companies to be conditioned in particular on a salary scale that remains above the minimum wage. “It is a subject that we are ready to work on”he pointed out.

“We continued to negotiate all the time”

While the dialogue was broken between the trade unions and the government during the mobilization against the pension reform, it was never between the social partners, assures François Asselin: “We continued to negotiate all the time. This was the case with the negotiation on the sharing of value and it has just been the case around an agreement concerning the funds for accidents at work and occupational diseases”he explained.

“We continue to dialogue all the time. That is a constant that we absolutely want to continue”, he said. He wishes to have “the elbow room” to negotiate. “It’s a social agenda with chapters that need expertise, which will need time, while we are given time to address them”he asked.