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The Evolution of IR/HRM
in France
Table 1
Yonatan
Reshef
School of Business
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2R6 CANADA
Major labor federations and employer
organizations
- CGT- Confédération générale du
travail is a Communist labor federation. It
was formed in 1895. General strategy: defending workers within the capitalist system while
espousing the overthrow of capitalism
- CFTC - Confédération
française des travailleurs chrétiens was founded in
1919. It maintains a close philosophical connection to the Catholic Church.
- CFDT - Confédération
française démocratique du travail was founded in 1964 as a
result of a split within CFTC. CFDT does not have any ties with the church.
- FO - Force ouvrière was founded in 1948 as non-communist members broke away from the CGT that
strongly opposed the Marshall Plan. Members are largely white-collar workers in the civil
service.
- CGC - The confédération
générale des cadres was formed in 1944. It represents the
elite class of white-collared workers. This is a moderate union, one which avoids mixing
politics with the function of the union. In 1981 it changed its name to
CGC-CGE, Confédération française de l'encadrement-confédération
général des cadres. It comprises management staff,
supervisors, and technicians.
- The above five unions are known as "representative
unions." FEN (Fédération de l'éducation nationale)
is another important union which is also representative but only on a
sectoral level, the education sector.
- CNPF - the Conseil national du
patronat français is the central employers'
organization. It was formed in December 1945. In October 1998, the organization changed it
name to Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF), the
Movement of French Enterprises.
Weak unions
Plural unionism decreases the potential strength of organized labor; IR/HRM are not
highly institutionalized; multiple unions competing for members in the same workplace
creates difficulty in collective bargaining as agreements are often signed by unions that
represent a small section of the work force. (See
more)
Slow development of IR/HRM
7 June, 1936 - the Matignon agreement (Background):
- 40-hour work week
- paid holidays
- a public works program
- old aged pension
- the right to conclude collective agreements
- employee representatives at the plant level in plants >10 employees
1945 - Works council are mandatory in firms with more than 50
workers,
February 11, 1950 - Basic Law (made industry negotiations the backbone of the
CB system). Where sector agreements existed, lower-level bargaining
could only take place in special circumstances, that is to take account of
particular company characteristics. Where no sector agreements
existed, lower-level bargaining was limited to the fixing of pay rates.
1968 - The Grenelle Agreement. First official recognition of trade union
branches within a firm. France's main unions got the right to appoint
union delegates in all firms with at least 50 workers.
June 30, 1971 - The new law permitted
employers and unions to negotiate agreements at the company level
(previously limited to fixing pay rates).
1982 - The
Auroux Laws. An attempt to strengthen company-level collective
bargaining.
Managers
Main responsibility is supervisory role
Highly skilled
Direct tasks of workers
Patron
-- Traditional name for the employer, as the person who wields authority
or hierarchical power. By extension, a hierarchical superior to whom an
employee is directly answerable. The most appropriate colloquial
translation is "boss".
Patronat
-- Term used in French for "employers" collectively
Cadre
-- Term which has acquired official recognition in France only since 1945,
with the introduction of special regulations for this category of
employees, and in particular a retirement scheme. Its definition
nonetheless remains uncertain, since it requires the combination of two
elements which are themselves uncertain. The first is professional
worth, which may be assessed either in terms of training and
formal qualifications (in which case an individual is described as a
"cadre par titre"), or on the basis of accumulated
experience. This dual criterion explains, to a large extent,
why the category is so widely established. The second element is the
possession of authority over subordinates,
exercised by delegation from the employer; the threshold that must be
crossed in order to gain classification in the category may be set at
numerous different levels.
A body of special rules for such
professional and managerial staff has gradually been instituted. For
instance, they are entitled to a period of at least three months' notice
in the event of dismissal and to a higher level of severance pay. They are
liable for any infringements committed in the department over which they
exercise delegated powers of authority. Their contracts of employment
often contain special clauses: long probationary
period , covenant in restraint of competition. Collective
agreements usually devote a special annex to professional and managerial
staff. In workplace-level elections, they constitute a separate electoral
body and elect their own delegates. They also elect members of Industrial
Tribunals, who, together with the members elected by employers, form part
of the staffing within the system of first-instance labour courts. They
have their own unions, which are affiliated either to the
general trade union confederations or to a special confederation (see CGC-CFE
).
Workers
Low level of autonomy
Training methods don't provide tools for change responsive laborers
Industries have tall organizational structure and narrow span of control
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