Elisabeth Borne will open a social conference on low wages on Monday. But even before receiving the social partners, the Prime Minister announced today, in La Tribune Dimanche, that she wanted to create a “Higher Remuneration Council”. The objective of this new advisory body? “Think long term” in how you pay employees.
“The workforces of certain professional branches are no longer adapted to the qualifications. Employees acquire very useful skills for the functioning of our economy without their remuneration increasing,” estimates Elisabeth Borne, without giving more details about the branches in question. “It’s harmful, it makes you lose motivation at work,” she insists.
Many professional branches with minimums lower than the minimum wage
Especially since with each increase in the minimum wage, several levels of the wage scale automatically fall below the minimum wage. In May 2023, the minimum wage was mechanically increased by 2.22%, reaching 1,383.08 euros net. This increase raised the number of professional branches that have minimum wages below the minimum wage to 147, out of 171 branches periodically supervised by the Ministry of Labor. As of September 19, 76 branches were still affected, according to a count carried out by the CFDT, cited by Capital.
Currently there is no question of forcing companies to increase salaries. “We want to encourage, drive and follow progress,” he explains.
“Crushed careers”
Last March, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, already deplored “crushed careers in our country.” “We are one of the countries where the minimum wage is one of the highest in Europe, but the average wage is one of the closest to the minimum wage in Europe,” he assured then.
I am not sure that the creation of a Higher Remuneration Council will be enough to convince the unions. If the CFDT, the CGT, the FO, the CFTC, the CFE-CGC and the Unsa will participate in the social conference that opens on Monday, in a tense context and with high inflation, the Solidaires union has decided not to attend, judging by the proposals previously presented by the government they are “insufficient”.
Source: BFM TV
