Bruno Le Maire must “Creating the conditions to better distribute value in companies” reacts Monday, July 5 on franceinfo the president of the CFE-CGC François Hommeril. The Minister of the Economy said he wanted to make the question of purchasing power his top priority.
franceinfo: What should the government do to help French people with purchasing power?
Francois Hommeril: Bruno Le Maire said that we cannot do everything, because public finances are constrained. I agree with him and I do not think that it is mainly up to public finances to solve the problems of purchasing power in France. The question that is asked is that of the sharing of value, it is that of the salary, that of the participation of employees in the fair share which is due to them of the economic production which they contribute to making. I support the initiatives that are taken to come to the assistance of people who are confronted with the explosion in the price of gasoline or electricity. But that will not solve the basic problem, which is to live decently from your work.
Do companies have to put their hands in their pockets?
Obviously it’s complicated because there are a myriad of different companies and situations. But there are companies today whose results are almost indecent and which benefit in a certain way from the crisis, those whose results are linked to energy, for example. There is a real problem in the value chain. In the medium term, this government and Bruno Le Maire must create the conditions for better distributing value in companies.
But not all companies have the means?
I don’t want to deny that reality. Companies are not all at the same place in the subcontracting chain. But that is what must be regulated. There are a whole host of companies and their employees, which are under pressure, an extremely strong economic balance of power and which push the margin up to the very large companies which capture almost all of the value. Bruno Le Maire must show a political will to intervene so that in the value chain, the value is better distributed.
How to force companies that make a lot of profits to raise wages?
There are energy bonuses, mobility bonuses that will be made available. We believe that the granting of these bonuses in companies, the granting of tax advantages linked to certain bonuses, could be conditional on the opening of negotiations on wages, on obtaining concrete results. The aid that is granted is not sufficiently conditioned.