The idea of eliminating a second holiday is beginning to gain ground in the Government. Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin appeared open Tuesday to a parliamentary debate on such a move, judging, overall, that working harder to participate in the recovery effort was “in the right direction.” While parliamentarians want the elimination of a second holiday, in addition to transforming Whit Monday into a day of labor solidarity, he responded on TF1: “this is part of the debates we will have in Parliament.”
However, he did not want to point to a specific day on the calendar: “you have to leave flexibility for it to work.” On LCI Sunday, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Antoine Armand, also considered “the proposal very interesting, it must be examined closely.” Enough to once again highlight the functioning of the usual solidarity day.
A day that is no longer necessarily fixed on Whit Monday
This solidarity day system was launched 20 years ago, after the deadly heat wave of 2003. The law of June 30, 2004 indicates that this day “takes the form of an additional day of unpaid work for employees and the contribution (from employers to finances) to the autonomy of older and disabled people.” Since 2013, retirees and people with disabilities have also contributed through their pensions. The day was initially set for Whit Monday because it did not It is a religious holiday, Pentecost being Sunday, and a business day that guarantees constant resources.
However, since 2008, employers can freely use these seven additional hours of work during the year, or even soften them, as is the case with the SNCF. To such an extent that Whit Monday has progressively become a non-working day again for the majority of French people: while in 2005 44% worked that day, ten years later only 30% did so, according to a study from the Randstad company.
More than 3,000 million euros of income in 2023
But the solidarity day is still valid, in various forms: elimination of a day of RTT, work on one of the other 10 holidays or even extension of working hours. In certain cases, companies can give it to their employees by financing this day themselves with 0.3% of the payroll.
In 2023, income amounted to 3.2 billion euros, of which 860 million euros come from the payment of the additional economic solidarity contribution (CASA) by retirees and disabled people and 2.4 billion euros from the solidarity contribution of employees ( CSA).
A recent senatorial report estimates that the creation of a second day of solidarity “which could lead to the elimination of a public holiday, would generate 2.4 billion euros of additional income” to finance the operation of accommodation establishments for dependent people. older people (Ehpad).
Source: BFM TV
