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In June 2004, the French government presented a 'social cohesion plan'. The aim is to take an integrated approach to social exclusion, seeking simultaneously to combat problems in employment, housing and society more widely. Trade unions and employers’ associations have been consulted on the issue and have expressed a range of opinions on the plan.
The cabinet discussed a 'social cohesion plan' (Plan de cohésion sociale) on 30 June 2004. The plan, drafted under the aegis of Jean-Louis Borloo, the Minister for Employment, Labour and Social Cohesion, takes a new approach, addressing together a variety of social problems - such as unemployment, an increase in the number of socially-excluded people, the present housing crisis, the poor state of disadvantaged areas, discrimination and a crisis in the education system in some places. The previous approach was largely segmented, with each problem dealt with in isolation. The plan’s goal is simultaneous action deploying all the political 'levers' capable of breaking the current vicious circle and establishing a 'virtuous' one of success and cohesion.
The plan has a budget of EUR 12.757 billion over five years as part of a 'programming' law. It has three strands - employment, housing and equal opportunities - and sets out a raft of measures targeted at the 'forgotten people of the French Republic, and those left outside the scope of equal opportunities'. The primary objective is to tackle the 'hard core' of unemployment into which previous governments have failed to make inroads, ie the almost 1.5 million people receiving 'minimum integration income' (Revenu minimum d’insertion, RMI) (FR0401103N) or the 'specific solidarity allowance' (allocation spécifique de solidarité, ASS) (FR0310102N), one third of whom are assumed to be unlikely to find a job soon on account of their age, or because of particular individual circumstances. This means giving priority in the scheme to measures focusing on getting people back to work, and to that end, on organising a systematic scheme for breaking down the 'logic of dependency' and starting employment.
The main measures included in the new social cohesion plan are summarised below.
With regard to anti-unemployment measures, 300 'job centres' (maisons de l’emploi) will: identify quantitative and qualitative job needs; provide a structure for training; ensure the monitoring of unemployed people in difficult circumstances; and bring together in a single 'public-interest partnership' (groupement d’intérêt public, GIP) all relevant parties, including the National Employment Agency (Agence nationale pour l’emploi, ANPE) and the Associations for Employment in Industry and Commerce (Associations pour l’emploi dans l’industrie et le commerce, ASSEDICs), which are responsible for paying out unemployment benefit at départemental level. A single file will now be used for each job-seeker. ANPE’s monopoly over job placement is to be abolished, and unemployed people will be monitored more effectively and checked up on more frequently.
Each of the 800,000 young unqualified unemployed people will be allocated an individual contact person and the 100,000 experiencing the greatest difficulty in finding employment will get extra assistance. In the private sector, 350,000 young people will receive training in the form of work experience alternating with study (under an apprenticeship or a 'professionalisation' contract), and there will be as many state-subsidised contracts. An 'access pathway' to jobs in the local and regional government, hospital and central government civil service (parcours d’accès à la fonction publique territoriale, hospitalière et d’Etat, PACTE) will enable 100,000 young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to be recruited into the civil service, not through open competitions as usually happens, but via combined study and on-the-job training programmes.
Over four years, 1 million 'employment starter contracts' (contrats d’activité), combined with systematic individual support, will be available to people who have been RMI and ASS recipients for six months, and to people receiving single parent’s allowance. This contract consists of 26-35 hours’ employment per week, split between work and training, with working time being paid at the minimum wage (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance, SMIC) rate. Only local and regional authorities, subsidised companies that help unemployed people enter or re-enter the workforce and non-civil service agencies that provide assistance to the unemployed can offer this type of contract. The employer will receive a flat-rate state subsidy. Moreover, state-subsidised contracts will be simplified. In addition to the policies targeted at the young and the new 'employment starter contracts', only two categories of state-subsidised contracts will be maintained, one for the market sector and one for the non-market sector, while the overall number of people brought into such schemes will remain at 2004 levels.
The plan’s housing strand is based on four priorities: increasing access to property by middle- and lower-income households; continuing urban renovation with the demolition and rebuilding of dilapidated housing; doubling the supply of social housing units for rent; and mobilising vacant private-sector housing stock. The objective is to make up for past commitments to building social housing that were not honoured. The number of units built will rise from 80,000 in 2004 to 120,000 by 2009 (ie 500,000 in five years). To achieve this, the state will extend exemption from property tax on housing units covered by the programme from 15 to 25 years, and is committed to guaranteeing funding. The plan also aims to have 200,000 new contracts signed between the state and the owners of private housing units, with controlled rents, and to enable 100,000 vacant private sector units to be put back onto the market over a five-year period. Lastly, the social cohesion plan provides for the creation of: 4,000 places in hostels; 7,000 places in reception centres for asylum-seekers; and 1,300 rescue and social rehabilitation centre places.
According to Minister Borloo, 'the social elevator is out of order … When you get on it in a particular district, ethnic group, or even type of housing environment, the probability of you climbing is quite low … There are now two Frances living alongside one another. This is not our idea of how the Republic should be.' In response to this problem, the social cohesion plan proposes the creation of 750 'educational success teams' (équipes de réussite éducative) to help the children most likely to leave education without qualifications in 900 educational priority zones and networks. To help disadvantaged schoolchildren in collèges (schools for those aged 11-15), 150 'educational success platforms' (plates-formes de réussite éducative) linking social assistance services and child psychiatry centres will be opened, as well as around 30 'educational success boarding schools' and centres of educational excellence in 150 collèges located in disadvantaged districts. The budget of the Urban Solidarity Fund (dotation de solidarité urbaine, DSU) will be more effectively distributed and increased by EUR 600 million over five years. 'Local and regional social cohesion charters' (chartes territoriales de cohésion sociale) will be adopted; a National Agency for Migrant Reception (Agence nationale de l’accueil des migrants, ANAM) is to be set up; 'reception and integration contracts' will be used across the board; and 'only foreign nationals who have signed a contract and satisfied their commitments will be able to get a 10-year residence card'. Lastly, a new Equality and Anti-Discrimination Authority (Haute autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l’égalité) will be set up on 1 January 2005 (FR0403101N).
In the context of the new plan, the government has recommended that the social partners negotiate on a number of priority issues: the social management of restructuring; the employment of older people; health and safety at work; the simplification of labour law; and funding jointly-run schemes and programmes resulting from collective bargaining. Negotiators at sector and company levels are 'encouraged fully to utilise the methods for making the 35-hour week more flexible', while at the same time the government has committed itself to clarifying the regulation of working time (FR0408108F).
Trade unions and employers’ associations have been consulted on this issue, including via the Economic and Social Council (Conseil économique et social). Their reactions to the social cohesion plan have been mixed, with the majority of trade unions welcoming the resources that are to be targeted at the worst-off people, but questioning how effective they will be. They are concerned that exciting promises will turn out to be simply vain wishes.
The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) is the most optimistic. It is pleased that several of its demands were listened to, and sees positive ambitions in the plan. However, it argues that the government now has an obligation to produce results. The funds actually allocated must be large enough to match the stated ambitions. The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), the most critical of the union confederations, has expressed great disappointment, complaining that the plan has become an empty shell, and labelling it just another plan for accommodating precarious employment and living conditions. It has claimed that 'employment starter contracts' (contrats d’activité) will not end up being turned into open-ended employment contracts, as planned, and complained that measures to deal with restructuring have been postponed.
The French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) feels that the approach is of interest, since it breaks with the perceived 'pro-employer' policy of its predecessors, but questions whether enough funding has been allocated to the plan. This reservation is shared by the General Confederation of Labour-Force Ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail Force Ouvrière, CGT-FO), which, while welcoming the desire to get those in the greatest difficulty back to work, is concerned as to whether the plan’s annual funding can be maintained, and is worried about the stated intention of simplifying the Labour Code and making the 35-hour week and the rules on fixed-term and temporary agency work contracts more flexible. 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) has emphasised the positive elements of the social cohesion plan, while stating that it has major reservations, particularly in terms of employment.
Among employers, the prevailing reaction is one of satisfaction. The Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF) has said that the social cohesion plan is a step in the right direction, as it aims to put those in the worst situations back into employment. The Craftwork Employers' Association (Union professionnelle artisanale, UPA), considers the plan positive but flawed. It has welcomed the expansion of schemes where training alternates with work experience, but still feels that the proposals relating to recipients of the RMI will not tackle unemployment at its roots.
By adopting the social cohesion plan, the government has demonstrated the strength of its ambition in the fight against the various forms of exclusion. After the 'sound-bite' value of the announcement has dissipated, it will remain to be seen in the coming months whether government ambition is matched by a political will powerful enough to rule out budget cuts in this area. (Mouna Viprey, IRES)