The corporate health pass will not be part of the bill presented to the Council of Ministers on Monday, December 27. For Force Ouvrière, “this is the sign” that the social partners have been “heard” Monday, December 20, during the meeting with the Minister of Labor, Élisabeth Borne. On franceinfo Tuesday, the FO confederal secretary, in charge of employment and pensions, believes that “the reflection was not completely completed in the presentation of the minister”. To fight against the epidemic and the arrival of the Omicron variant, Michel Beaugas proposes to “convince of the benefits of vaccination” rather than the “constrain”.
Franceinfo: The health pass is absent from the bill which will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Monday. Is this a sign that you, the social partners, have been heard?
Michel Beaugas: It seems to us that indeed, this is a sign that we have been heard because it is very complex to implement. All the trade unions, including Force Ouvrière, told the Minister of Labor that we were not in favor of such a measure because it would go against the measures that have already been put in place, especially in companies. which receive from the public, since a certain number of employees are already required to have the health pass. And when they did not have the health pass, when they were not vaccinated, companies managed to change their position. And if ever, tomorrow, the health pass was compulsory for all, a large number of employees, two million according to the Minister of Labor, who are not yet vaccinated, would probably see their employment contract suspended. And there, that would really be a problem.
According to information from franceinfo, the government still plans to introduce this provision later by decree. But isn’t that what you were told on Monday?
No. We were told that for companies, it was the health pass and not a vaccination pass. But I think that it will become, in the long term, practically an obligation, when the vaccination pass will be compulsory in France. And above all, what I heard said is that in the National Assembly, the health pass in business, even if it is not in the bill tomorrow, could come back by way of amendment.
“I think that here, for once, the government lacks a little courage. If it wants to apply the health pass in companies, let it say so, but that it does not let the deputies do it.”
Michel Beaugas, FO confederal secretaryto franceinfo
Faced with the emergence of the Omicron variant, what measures to put in place in companies have you been able to propose to the Minister of Labor?
As a first step, it is necessary to inform the employees. I remind you that out of 19 million employees in the private sector and six million civil servants, two million people are not vaccinated. So we have to convince them of the benefits of vaccination. At Force Ouvrière, we are not opposed to vaccination, quite the contrary. We must protect the citizen. We must protect employees. Now we have to convince rather than coerce. And there, with the measures that are implemented, we are moving towards constraint. So we suggested to the Minister of Labor that the government write to all employees to highlight the benefits of vaccination. It is things like that that make it possible to provide the best information. Even if the government, so far, has shown pedagogy, I admit it. We have to go a little further. All employees must be touched personally so that they become aware of the importance of being vaccinated to protect themselves and their families.