In 2023, 1,138 interprofessional and sectoral agreements and modifications were signed (provisional data) at all levels (national, regional, local). This figure, taken from the annual report on collective bargaining in 2023 published on Thursday, October 3, by the Ministry of Labor and Employment, reflects a sharp drop compared to 2022 (1,596 agreements signed according to the final figures).
The cause of this decline? The slowdown in inflation, which reduced the frequency of revaluation of the minimum wage in 2023. And hence the need to negotiate to maintain conventional minimums above the minimum wage. “After a year 2022 marked by exceptional dynamics (…) driven by the very sustained pace of salary negotiations, the volume of agreements signed in 2023 returns to a level more in line with the long-term trend,” confirms Pierre Ramain, director general of Labor, in the prologue of this report.
The truth is that this return to normality leaves a bitter taste for some social partners, whom the Ministry of Labor invites to express themselves in their assessment. “Too many sector wage negotiations are carried out at a minimum and only result in simple compliance. This practice reinforces the flattening of pay scales and (…) limits too many employees (mostly women) to remaining at the minimum wage level for many years.”regrets the CFDT.
Equality between women and men in decline
Unlike trading in branches, trading in companies only registered a slight decrease (−5.5%) and remained at a high level: 107,980 texts of different types were published on the administration platform, with a distribution almost identical between 2022 and 2023, 61.9%. They are agreements or modifications signed by union delegates (DS), elected officials of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) or mandatory employees. 19.1% result from a referendum held by a two-thirds majority of employees, and 18.7% result from unilateral decisions by the employer (denouncement of agreements, action plans, etc.).
Wages will continue to represent the main topic of sectoral agreements in 2023, with 520 agreements signed, although with a sharp drop compared to 2022 (-25%), due to a slowdown in inflation. For the same reasons, this slowdown reduces the number of agreements signed in the branches on gender equality (289, compared to 437 in 2022), and the bonus systems (work equipment, travel, meals, on-call obligations, family events). , etc.). The number of agreements on supplementary pensions and social assistance remains stable.
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