What if we asked people who receive social assistance to work rather than remain inactive? This idea is not new, in Lodève we are going to put it into practice very concretely from the start of the school year. This is the operation called “Zero Unemployed Territory” and it is a first in Occitania. 250 long-term unemployed, beneficiaries of the RSA will be able to work and be hired on permanent contracts. They will receive a salary rather than the RSA.
Instead of trying to force a CV into a job description, we want to create jobs based on skills, we are not talking about human resources but human wealth
The agreement to apply this device was signed Monday morning by the town hall of Lodève, the departmental council of Hérault, the State, Pôle Emploi and the company created to set it up, the association Entreprise à But d’ Use. “In our country a person who is long-term unemployed at a cost of €25,000 per year for society, the minimum wage is €20,000 and therefore the goal is to create companies that are not intended to earn a lot of money to allow people and people to live decently, but also to have all the social benefits of what work is. There is a population in great difficulty here. Either we look at them saying “these are bad cases”, or we look at them saying “Listen, I offer you to work and maybe you’ll get better. And maybe you’ll stay in this company for a long time . We can in a year or two and you set up your business or go work somewhere else “Instead of trying to force a resume into a job description, maybe we can ask people what they like TO DO ? What are their skills? And if it corresponds to the overall project of the company, we can create the position, the relationship to employment is completely changed. We are not talking about human resources, we are talking about human resources.” explains Didier Lucas, president of the association Entreprise à Purpose d’Emploi in Lodève
The unemployed will carry out trades in the social and the environment. Missions that will not compete with local businesses.
To say that people are assisted and that they take pleasure in that is false. Before I worked in mass distribution where I was asked to make numbers, tomorrow I will take care of others
Kaïna is in her fifties, beneficiary of the RSA after several odd jobs, she will soon work for the EBE, the Enterprise with Purpose of Employment in the sector service to the inhabitants. “I’m going to do all the little DIY that doesn’t bring in enough money for companies, the transport of people who need to do administrative procedures because there are a lot of people who don’t have a computer. Chattering, small talk for example. Elderly people who are isolated, who see no one except the people who come to clean their homes. To take care of each other, it’s going to be positive, move towards something other than consumerism which leads us into the wall. I think it’s really a brilliant, innovative idea, because well, despite the prevailing discourse, “people are assisted, they take pleasure in it”, right? Most people want to do things that make sense. I worked in retail. I was asked to make numbers, numbers, numbers, sell stupidly. So that, for me, is no longer of any interest. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
It is no longer a question of integration like 20 years ago. We need to change mentalities and change our software
Gaëlle Lévêque, mayor of Lodève is also enthusiastic about the device “What I find quite exceptional is that it is supported by people without jobs. For me, that is a success factor. We are not like over the past 20 to 30 years in insertion devices. There, we talk about what people do, their skills to move towards activities that will benefit the population. I think a lot about services for the elderly. We are coming out of two really disturbing years. Many people have remained cloistered at home for fear of meeting the other and we need to help them get out of their homes. The same is true for the door-to-door collection of bio-waste, which is something that the community cannot carry out because it is a service that would be far too expensive. That is an important axis. We need to change our way of looking at both what we consume, the resources we use. Change your mindset there and change our company software a bit.”
In Lodève, 50% of the population is below the poverty line and the unemployment rate is 16.5%.