Reorganisation of professional branches

 

The authorities in charge of public administration have launched a reorganization of the conventional sector. The aim of this reorganization is to reduce the number of 700 professional branches to 200.

 

The decree on vocational training, employment and social democracy passed on the 5th of March has served to initiate a drive to reorganize the various branches. The aim of this procedure is to reduce the branches’ workforce, while the Labour Act passed on the 8th of August 2016 has improved the system considerably, meaning that the restructuring process is markedly faster than before.

 

The merger of 4 collective agreements designed to create more powerful agreements

 

One of the methods used consists of merging together branches of negligible importance, or whose activity is not high in negotiation, with other more important and dynamic branches. All of these provisions are catered for under new or existing labour laws. In accordance with this, 9 branches (the vast majority of which were local)  merged at the beginning of 2017 (covered by the decree of  January the 5th 2017, OJ of 12). The latest decree, published on the 28th of April 2017, further develops this merger strategy and is the result of a meeting of 4 collective agreements with other entities of larger sizes.

Details of the merger agreements :

• The National Collective Agreement for Managers and Supervisors of the General and Administrative Services of Cinematographic Theatres has now been attached to the National Collective Bargaining Convention of cinematography

 

• The National Collective Agreement on the Trade in Sewing Machines is attached to the Collective Agreement of Commissions, Brokers and Intra-Community Trade and Import-Export Companies of Metropolitan France
• The local collective agreement for the pipe and cigarette industry in the Saint-Claude area is attached to the National Collective Agreement for the Mechanical Woodworking, Sawmilling, Woodworking and Importing Industries
• The National Collective Agreement on Skin Glove is attached to the National Collective Labor Agreement for the Leather Goods Industries, Travel Articles, Saddlery, Leather Bracelets

 

Other important Points:

• The territorial and professional scope relating to the amalgamated collective agreement is included in that of the collective attachment agreement
• The different provisions in force in the collective agreement are attached to the collective agreement.

 

In short, it should be noted that the collective agreements are generally local or regional. Nearly a dozen of these entities have thus seen their territorial and professional scope included in that of the collective agreement to which they are now attached. These measures are designed to push the social partners to negotiate to maintain certain clauses of the collective agreement or to debate the possibility of creating new collective clauses.