The government presented Wednesday in the Council of Ministers its draft law on "sharing of value", transposition "faithful" of an agreement concluded between unions and employers to extend to more employees the mechanisms for sharing the profits of companies.
Concluded in February in a context of high inflation, the national interprofessional agreement (ANI) aims to extend mechanisms such as profit-sharing, participation or value-sharing bonuses (PPV) to all companies over 11 employees.
Despite the tensions generated by the pension reform, "it is the demonstration that the social dialogue has not been interrupted", rejoiced the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt during a press conference.
The government is aiming for adoption before the end of the parliamentary session this summer.
Participation is a profit redistribution mechanism, currently mandatory in companies with more than 50 employees, while profit-sharing is an optional bonus linked to results or non-financial performance, schemes that come with tax advantages.
But smaller companies are still lagging behind: 88.5% of employees in companies with more than 1,000 people benefited from a "value sharing" scheme in 2020, compared to less than 20% in those with less than 50 employees, according to the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Labor (Dares).
To generalize these mechanisms, the agreement provides that companies between 11 and 49 employees who are profitable -- that is, their net profit represents at least 1% of turnover for three consecutive years -- " put in place at least one value-sharing mechanism.
Companies with less than 11 employees "have the possibility" of sharing profits with their employees, according to the ANI, signed by four out of five unions, with the exception of the CGT.
The government has chosen 2025 as the date of entry into force, contrary to the recommendation of a parliamentary report which at the beginning of April called for implementation "from 2024" in view of inflationary pressures.
The text opens up the possibility of awarding the value-sharing bonus twice a year (known as the "Macron bonus") within the limit of the total exemption ceilings (3,000 or 6,000 euros) and placing it on a employee savings.
In companies with less than 50 employees, this bonus will remain, for employees whose remuneration is less than three Smic, exempt from tax and social security contributions, as well as income tax until the end of 2026.
The Council of State has however warned the government that the continuation of this measure reserved for SMEs could be unconstitutional in the name of a breach of equality.
In 2022, the value-sharing bonus had benefited 5.5 million employees for an average amount of around 790 euros, according to the Ministry of Labor.
But the most debated issue in Parliament should be that of "windfall profits".
The text provides that companies with at least 50 employees will have to negotiate its definition and sharing.
The initial agreement left it up to the employers alone but, after consulting the Council of State, the government revised its copy. This mechanism should be made more secure during parliamentary debate, particularly in the absence of a company agreement.
This subject of "superprofits" should be the subject of many amendments on the left of the Assembly.
Mr. Dussopt sees it as "a risk of one-upmanship" and will only defend any modification to the ANI "with a consensus of the signatories".
In February, the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, had considered that "any unraveling" would constitute "a stab in the back of the social partners".
The text does not attack large companies which devote their “exceptional” income to share buybacks when Emmanuel Macron had asked the government to think about ways to make workers “benefit” from this windfall.
"Technical work is still in progress at Bercy," explained Mr. Dussopt, referring a possible measure to the next finance bill.
05/24/2023 13:48:36 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
