Three-way talks begin in France


Leaders of France’s five main union confederations and three main employers’ associations have started talks with the prime minister Edouard Philippe on further measures to change the industrial relations and welfare system.


The two main issues under discussion are the unemployment insurance system and health and safety at work. On the unemployment insurance system, the intention is that detailed negotiations will be concluded in February 2019. 


The government has already made some changes to the system, affecting those who leave their jobs voluntarily and some self-employed, and these measures were adopted by parliament on 1 August. However, the government is now looking for wider changes, particularly on the long-term unemployed. 


On health and safety the discussions will be based on a new expert report. 


The unions hope that these discussions indicate a greater willingness by the government to involve them, to return, in the words of Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT union confederation, “to a form of dialogue between union and employer organisations and the state”.