The "fantasy" breaks the conventional collective

by Caroline Pailliez

PARIS (Reuters) – Pimkie, PSA (PA:PEUP), maybe Carrefour (PA:CARR), companies rush into the new system plan of voluntary departures provided for by the reform of the labour Code, but of the specialists in social affairs, warn against the risks.

The Rupture conventional collective (RCC) allows a company to engage in a plan of voluntary departures simplified without having to justify economic difficulties. Unlike the backup Plan of employment (PSE), it does not include an obligation of reclassification.

“There is a flexibility that explains why a series of companies are in the process of fantasizing,” said to Reuters Raymond Soubie, consultant, social strategy and former adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy.

The brand of the clothing Pimkie has proposed Monday to its employees a RCC that would affect 208 jobs. PSA announced on Tuesday to consider using the device to 1,300 employees by 2018. Carrefour may announce in the next few days, according to union representatives.

For a lawyer who specializes in social affairs Emmanuelle Barbara, employers should temper their enthusiasm. “They are wrong to think that it is a panacea. This is not a tool intended to repaint entirely a corporate organizational chart. It is not only in their hands.”

But several factors could limit the use of this device, according to the experts folder social.

To be approved, the device must have the approval of the trade union organizations the majority of the company. This condition is not necessary for the registration of a PES or a POS classic. It only allows them to benefit from simplified procedures.

A BOOM MODEST

The agreement reached in the RCC will determine, among other things, the manner of calculation of severance payments, which cannot be less than the statutory redundancy payments.

According to the national Association of HRD (ANDRH), the increase in the number of RCC may be modest. “It is not that easy to put of agreement of the trade unions in a company”, said to Reuters the president of the association Jean-Paul Charlez.

The majority unions of Pimkie – the CGT, Force ouvrière and the CFDT, have already announced that they would oppose the RCC. They push the management has to opt for a plan of voluntary departure is classical and the project has been cancelled, according to the trade union delegates.

The direction of the store of ready-to-wear had detailed his proposal Tuesday: payment of an indemnity, supra-legal (in addition to the compensation required) for length of service, capped at 18,000 euros; bonus of 2,000 euros for the volunteers in the first three weeks; leave mobility of two months to allow the employee to prepare his / her project to 65% of gross salary or 85% of the smic.

The volunteers also had the opportunity to receive training on a cost ranging from 2,500 euros to 7,000 euros, or the payment of a financial assistance from 6.000 to 8.000 euros to support the creation or takeover of a company. Employees with the most seniority were targeted in priority.

QUESTIONABLE JUSTICE

The direction does not specify whether the offered terms and conditions in the plan of voluntary departure classic will be equivalent.

For Raymond Soubie, the part of the CBI is far from being won. “This is one of the most complex issues orders because it is the least clear”, a-t-il.

It is feared that the device is easily arguable before the court. “If companies rush in there when they have economic difficulties, someone could enter a date the Court of cassation, saying: ‘there is an abuse of procedure’.”

“On the field, you have a side business who want to rush in there and the other who do not want to wipe the plasters”, he added.

The CBI is very unpopular with the trade union organizations at the national level. An exaggerated reaction, according to the lawyer, Emmanuelle Barbara. “We forget that the device is not key in hand. It is a co-construction with the trade unions.”

“Is it that there is not, in the business, a pool of volunteers ready to go in favourable conditions rather than to undergo a termination?”

For Raymond Soubie, it is all a question of money.

“If the premiums of voluntary retirement are important, at this time, the employees ask themselves. There is a pressure from the base to from. The unions are under pressure to sign these agreements, this will happen even more in the new system,” said Raymond Soubie.

(Edited by Yves Clarisse)