Realities of collective bargaining – ON-REAL

For more than two decades, labor law reforms in France – and more recenly, the one initiated by the Macron ordinances - have sought to promote collective bargaining, favoring decentralization, at company level. The use of techniques, such as derogation and “suppletivity” (meaning that statutory law or branch level collective agreements do not apply unless there is no company or plant level agreements) has placed branch level agreements to an ancillary position compared to the company agreements and this on a number of issues (such as remuneration -with the exception minimum wages hierarchical and possibly bonuses for dangerous or unhealthy work -, working hours, etc.).

What are the shifts caused by these legal changes, to the relationship between company and branch level agreements? Beyond the relations between the levels of collective bargaining, what is the physiognomy of collective bargaining in France? To find out, we propose to examine not only the statutory provisions, but also the collective agreements themselves, both at company and branch level. It is, in fact, through their contents that one can apprehend, with realism, the relationships that these agreements maintain, most importantly their degree of coordination. Such research will enable to get a grasp of what collective bargaining actors actually do. Such an approach of collective bargaining "in context", will hopefully lead to the validation or invalidation (or reformulation) of the hypothesis that decentralization of collective bargaining in France is desiring to the economy, the workers and the entrepreneurs. It will also be likely to nourish, from a more theoretical point of view, the uses that collective bargaining actors make of legal rules - in terms of appropriation - as well as in terms of labor law foundations.