Living and working in France

Actors and institutions

Trade unions, employers’ organisations and public institutions play a key role in the governance of the employment relationship, working conditions and industrial relations structures. They are interlocking parts in a multilevel system of governance that includes the European, national, sectoral, regional (provincial or local) and company levels. This section looks into the main actors and institutions and their role in France.

Public authorities involved in regulating working life

The state continues to play a crucial role in French industrial relations. The system is highly regulated, the Government sets the minimum wage and the Ministry of Labour extends virtually all collective agreements, and an increasing number of issues are subject to compulsory negotiations at sectoral or company level.

In recent years, however, a series of laws has been approved delegating the regulation of certain issues to social partners, typically at company level. For instance, there are obligations, sometimes on an annual or multi-annual basis, to negotiate on wages; the organisation of working time; gender equality; on professional insertion of disabled workers; financial participation and employment of older workers.

Furthermore, the labour law reform of August 2016 heralds a wide-ranging reform that aims to give company-level agreements precedence over those at sectoral level or the law itself if the latter so provides. This reversal is already provided for in the bill on an experimental basis in connection with the legislation on working time. It thereby establishes a decentralisation of collective bargaining.

Finally, through the framework of the labour law reform of 2017, decentralisation has been strengthened. This means that for a large number of issues, company-level agreements prevail; and the role of social partners in the management of the unemployment scheme and the vocational training system has been reduced, as the role of the state expands.

Individual employment rights are enforced by the French labour inspectorate (Inspection du travail) and the employment tribunal system ( conseils de prud’hommes). Cases are presented in front of a panel of four lay judges composed of two representatives from both the unions and the employers. A substantial reform of the employment tribunal system entered into force in 2015.

Representativeness

Since 1966, five trade union confederations have been deemed representative at national level. Prior to 2008, each trade union at a local or sectoral level that was affiliated to one of these confederations was also considered to be representative (‘presumption of representativeness’). These principles were modified in 2008 with the law on ‘social democracy and working time reform’. Regardless of affiliation, representativeness now depends primarily on the ‘electoral audience’: therefore, to be representative and able to participate in negotiations, a trade union must win at least 10% of the votes at workplace level, the ratio being 8% at sectoral industry level.

In terms of national cross-sectoral representativeness in the private sector, the second round of workplace elections in 2017 has resulted in granting the status to all five unions that had been considered representative previously: the General Confederation of Labour ( Confédération générale du travail, CGT); the French Democratic Federation of Labour ( Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT); the General Confederation of Labour – Force ouvrière ( Confédération générale du travail – Force Ouvrière, CGT-FO); the French Christian Workers’ Confederation ( Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC); and the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff – General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff ( Confédération française de l’encadrement – confédération générale des cadres , CFE-CGC)

In July 2017, it was also the first time that the representativeness of employer organisations was measured. The representativeness of the three main employers’ organisations was recognised.

• Quarterly update: France: Latest working life developments – Q2 2017
• Article: France: New assessment of the representativeness of the social partners
• Topic: Representativeness

Trade unions

About trade union representation

The term ‘paradox of French unionism’ (Wolff, 2008) describes the combination of very low union density but strong presence at workplace level (see below). Trade union density in France is among the lowest in Europe. According to the last assessment of the union density rate, it decreased to 11% in 2016, for the whole territory, in both the private and public sectors, compared with 11.2% in 2015. This proportion has been relatively stable over the past 10 years. Statistics show a significant disparity between the public service sector with a rate of 19.1% and the private sector (8.4%) and unions are also particularly strong among permanent full-time employees.

Observers bring forward a range of explanations, two of which are particularly prominent. First, French unions are weak in terms of membership, but prominently present at the workplace and union membership is often closely linked to union engagement. Elsewhere almost one French union member in five is an active employee representative. Second, virtually all collective agreements are extended to the entire sector leading to a very high coverage rate of above 90% and this invites employees to ‘free ride’, enjoying the benefits negotiated by unions without having to commit to union membership.

Trade union membership and trade union density

Main trade union confederations and federations

Trade unions are national organisations. France has five trade unions recognised as representative at a national level. They are mentioned in the table below. All membership figures are self-reported and are, for some organisations, likely to be overestimated.

Other unions have significant influence but do not yet have representative status at national cross-sectoral level. However, they might well conduct collective bargaining at company level or, if they meet the sectoral threshold in the latest elections, sectoral level.

Main trade union confederations and federations

For the second time since the reform of trade union representativeness in 2008 (see above), the popularity of private sector trade unions at the national, inter-professional and sector levels has been evaluated by their share of worker’s votes. On 31 March 2017, the Ministry of Labour published data based on the results of workplace elections. However, the participation rate was only 42.76%.

The five main trade union confederations with membership across the entire economy maintained their representativeness. The CFDT had 30.32% of the votes, slightly ahead of the CGT with 28.57%. The CGT-FO came third, with 17.93% of the votes, followed by CFE-CGC at 12.27% and the CFTC at 9.49%. The recently created trade unions UNSA (Union of autonomous trade unions) and SUD (Solidarity, Unity, Democracy), which tends to take a rather radical position, both failed to reach the 8% threshold at the national level, with a score of 5.35% and 3.46% respectively.

According to the second assessment of trade unions’ representativeness in the public sector based on the results of the work place elections held from 29 November to 6 December 2018, the CGT remains the leading trade union organisation in the civil service as a whole (state, local government and hospital) with 21.8% of the votes (a drop of 1.3 percentage points compared to 2014), followed by the CFDT (19%, a drop of 0.3 points). But taking into account the results of workplace elections in the private sector, the CFDT has become, in 2018, the leading French trade union, in the public and private sectors combined.

The reform of trade union representativeness by the Act of 20 August 2008 led to the profound modification of the French trade union landscape at sectoral and company level. Some organisations, such as the CFTC and CFE-CGC, have lost their representativeness in a significant number of branches. Conversely, other organisations such as UNSA could see recognition of their representativeness at sectoral level.

Employers’ organisations

About employers’ representation

Membership of employer organisations is voluntary in France, with organisations competing to attract members. Most of the country’s employers are members of at least one employer organisation. In contrast with the trade unions, employers’ organisational density was considered to be quite high (Traxler, 2004). According a study published by DARES (2019), it appears that on average one in four companies in France is a member of an employers' organisation and that two out of three employees work in these companies. Employee coverage rates are high in sectors where employment is highly concentrated around a few large companies (chemical and pharmaceutical industries, glass, construction, public works and banking). This indicates that previous estimates, which added the total membership figures of all confederations, strongly overestimated the representativeness of employers’ associations in France. The reason for this is that many companies are members of several organisations.

Employers’ organisations – membership and density

(*) Percentage of employees working in an establishment that is a member of any employer organisation that is involved in collective bargaining.

Main employers’ organisations

The Movement of French Enterprises (MEDEF) was established in 1998 to succeed the former National Council of French Employers ( Conseil national du patronat français, CNPF). The MEDEF is a multi-layered confederation of sectoral and territorial organisations bringing together companies with more than 10 employees. It organises 76 federations that cover some 600 associations whose members are companies working in the same sector and 13 regional organisations and over 100 departmental or local organisations. It seeks to cover all companies, whatever their size, in all geographic and professional sectors. Its members cover about 70% of the total workforce within the private sector.

On 6 January 2017, the General Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CGPME) changed its name to theConfederation of small and medium-sized employers’ organisations ( Confédération des petites et moyennes entreprises, CPME). CPME is organised into four national sections: commerce, services, industry and crafts. It organises 117 territorial unions and about 200 federation or association of trades. Its members cover about 34.5% of the total workforce within the private sector.

On 17 November 2016, the Craftwork Employers’ Association (UPA) merged with the National Union of Liberal Professions (UNAPL) to create a new body, theUnion of local businesses ( Union des entreprises de proximité / U2P). It organises 119 federations or associations of trades and 110 regional or local organisations. Its members cover about 4% of the total workforce within the private sector.

There is also an employers’ organisation representing the not-for-profit sector, the Union of employers of the social economy ( Union des employeurs de l’économie sociale et solidaire) UDES, formerly USGERES) that represents 80% of the sector’s employers.

Main employers’ organisations and confederations

Notes: (*) at national interprofessional level

The reform of the employers’ organisation representativeness was adopted in the framework of the reform of vocational training in March 2014 ( Loi n° 2014-288 du 5 mars 2014 relative à la formation professionnelle, à l'emploi et à la démocratie sociale ). According to a decree of 13 June 2015, to be representative at sectoral level, employers' organisations have to include a number of member companies representing at least 8% of all companies adhering to employers' organisations in the corresponding branch (member companies’ audience) or 8% of employees employed by the same organisation at the national, interprofessional or professional level (employees’ employed audience). The decree gives practical details on how to calculate the threshold of 8%. It also explains how employers’ organisations can oppose a collective agreement if they represent affiliated companies that employ more than 50% of the workforce of companies affiliated to employers’ organisations within the sector.

Social partners continue to be heavily involved in the management of certain social security provisions, such as public health insurance, unemployment benefits and social welfare boards (paritarisme). The social partners play also a central role in the supplementary private health insurance system (mutuelles, institutions de prévoyance) and pension plans. Furthermore, they are involved in the system of vocational training. The national system of policy concertation is complemented by a tripartite social dialogue in development at the regional or local level. Law 2007-130 of 31 January 2007 on modernisation of social dialogue makes it obligatory to consult national-level representatives of trade unions and employers’ organisations beforehand when proposing reforms in the field of industrial relations, employment and vocational training. The government should provide these organisations with a policy document presenting the ‘diagnoses, objectives and principal options’ of the proposed reform. The social partners will then be able to indicate whether they intend to embark on negotiations and how much time they need to reach an agreement. This procedure will not apply in ‘emergency situations’; in such cases, the government would have to justify its decision, which can be legally challenged.

When drawing up a draft law following the consultation procedure, the government is not obliged to adopt the content of a collective agreement as it is. However, depending on the issue at hand, it must submit the bill to:

• the National Collective Bargaining Commission (Commission nationale de la négociation collective, CNNC) for reforms concerning industrial relations;
• the National Employment Committee (Conseil national de l’emploi, CNE) for reforms in relation to employment;
• the National Council for Lifelong Vocational Training (Conseil national de la formation professionnelle tout au long de la vie, CNFPTLV) for reforms with regard to training.

The social partners that are represented in these bodies can assess whether or not the government’s proposals are in line with the relevant collective agreement and, if necessary, to give their opinion.

Main tripartite and bipartite bodies

Workplace-level employee representation

In France, employees are represented through trade unions and structures directly elected by all workers. Representation for workers has been obligatory since 1945 at all workplaces with more than 11 or 50 employees, depending on the structure. These bodies are largely regulated by law. Nevertheless, there is room for regulation through collective bargaining as the social partners can create information and consultation bodies through collective agreement, to improve information and consultation within the company. They may negotiate improvements in facilities for employee representatives such as more paid time off or more resources. Since the labour reform of 2017, the landscape of the workplace-level employee representation has considerably changed. This is due to the merger of the three main employees’ information and consultation bodies: the staff representatives (délégués du personnel); the works council (comité d’entreprise); and the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee (CHSCT), into one Social and Economic Committee (SEC). The CSE must be implemented in all companies concerned by 1 January 2020 at the latest.

Trade unions

Since 1968, trade union rights have been recognised by companies and trade unions have been entitled to appoint shop stewards ( délégués syndicaux, Labour Code, Articles L2143-1 to L2143-23), who have the power to negotiate and sign collective agreements at company level. The other worker representation bodies do not have this power if there is at least one shop steward. Since the reform of representativeness in 2008, unions not recognised as representative in an undertaking can appoint a ‘representative of the union’ ( représentant de la section syndicale, RSS, Labour Code, Articles L2142-1-1 to L2142-1-4) who has similar rights to an appointed shop steward except the right to negotiate collective agreements. According a majority collective agreement, shop stewards may transfer their collective bargaining power to the ESC who can then negotiate and form collective agreements.

Social and Economic Committee

The Social and Economic Committee (SEC) is a legal entity, and as a collegial body is composed of members elected by the employees, representatives of the company management and representatives nominated by the unions (Labour Code, article L2311-1 to L.2315-22). Members are elected by all workers in every private sector establishments with more than 10 employees. SEC will progressively replace the current elected bodies (comité d’entreprise, délégué du personnel and CHSCT, see table below) by 1 January 2020 at the latest.

The SEC can be formed either at company level or establishment level, when a central SEC will also be established. The SEC receives information from employers on issues such as the economic and social aspects of the company and new technology. The SEC will be consulted on the strategic orientation of the company. They also respond to formal consultations by employers on topics such as redundancies and vocational training (without formal negotiation power), and are responsible for managing social and cultural activities for which they have a budget, which is fixed by collective agreement. Otherwise, the SEC has a functioning budget equal to 0.2% of the company’s annual payroll, or 0.22% in companies with over 2,000 employees. The SEC will also take over the tasks of the former staff delegates (presenting individual and collective grievances to management and ensuring the implementation of legislation and collective agreements) and the role of the safety and working conditions committee.

In a group of companies, a group-level works council can be created ( comité de groupe, Labour Code, Articles L2331-1 to L2335-1), which enjoys similar rights to those of ordinary works councils. A company with a Europe-wide operation can create a European Works Council ( Comité d’entreprise européen, Labour Code, Articles L2341-1) which can be merged, according to the Labour Code, with the group-level works council, if employee representatives agree.

Since a law of 17 August 2015, bipartite regional committees ( commissions régionales paritaires interprofessionnelles) will be set up in the 13 French regions to offer the 4.6 million employees working in SMEs with less than 11 employees a coverage by an information and consultative body (Labour Code, Article L.2234-1). The role of the committee is: to provide legal information or advice to employees and employers; to discuss and adopt advises or statements about issues related to SMEs (professional training, employment, health and safety, forecast management of skills).

Technical committees

Information and consultation (I&C) bodies also exist in the public sector, but their organisation is different to that in the private sector. The main consultative bodies within the public services are the technical committees.

The reform of collective bargaining in the public sector brought about by the law of July 2011 alters the way trade unions’ representativeness is assessed in the public sector, in line with regulations already in place in the private sector since 2008. Since this legislation, workplace elections determine the extent to which trade unions are involved in negotiations, can sign agreements and hold seats on tripartite advisory bodies.

The technical committee has different competences depending on the civil service divisions it belongs to, whether national civil service, public hospitals or local government.

Regulation, composition and competences of the bodies