“The job doesn’t pay enough.” During his interview, Emmanuel Macron promised a series of measures in the coming weeks for purchasing power. In addition to a provision that could regulate the repurchase of shares by companies that obtain significant profits, the Head of State recalled that the agreement concluded by the social partners on value sharing (profit sharing and participation in companies with 11 employees ) would be integrated into the future “full employment” law that will soon be presented by the Ministry of Labor.
Emmanuel Macron also recalled that the Smic had increased considerably since the start of the energy crisis with an increase in the minimum wage of almost 10% since September 2021. Automatic increases, however, without a boost from the government.
But the president says he wants to go further.
With the successive increases in the Smic, the minimum wage has effectively gone from 10.25 euros gross per hour in September 2021 to 11.27 euros on January 1 of this year. This is a legal minimum. Companies apply the salary scales for their industry negotiated with the social partners. However, with the successive increases in the Smic (five in the last 18 months), certain branches have minimum wages below the legal minimum wage. In this month of March 2023, 86 of the 171 largest branches in the country have salaries below the Smic against 136 on January 1, according to data from the Ministry of Labor.
The risk of the “smic trap”
Does this mean that the companies that depend on these branches “continue paying people below the legal minimum wage” as stated by the Head of State?
This is not the case. The minimum wage has legal force and is therefore binding on any employer even if the branch’s collective agreement offers lower minimum wages. Companies do not pay their employees below the minimum wage.
Why then increase these branch minimums if the minimum wage protects low wages? The risk is the “smic trap”.
Specifically, if the branches do not renegotiate their grid, a certain number of levels may be found below the legal level of the minimum wage. In 2022, the industrial poultry sector, for example, had 12 coefficients below the minimum wage. Therefore, it was necessary to cross these different career levels to aspire to exceed the minimum wage.
Therefore, the government regularly urges the social partners to renegotiate their sectoral wage agreements to allow for career development.
Some unions such as the CGT have been demanding for several years that a law automate the revaluations of the minimum wages with each increase in the minimum wage.
Source: BFM TV
