Faced with the discomfort of France Travail agents, director Thibaut Guilluy remains straight in his Macronist line

Thibaut Guilluy talks quickly, a lot, but says little. Invited by the Association of Social Information Journalists (Ajis), this Wednesday, November 20, for a morning exchange with the press, the director general of France Travail avoided a number of questions linked to the tremors and the new projects which are multiplying for the public operator.

Implementation of new unemployment insurance rules, the fate reserved for cross-border workers, the full employment law or even the obligation to register two million RSA beneficiaries from January 2025, against a backdrop of understaffing, job cuts and alerts on the working conditions of employees, precarious and underpaid… No concrete response has emerged behind the series of Macronist clichés that the leader, member of the Renaissance party since 2016, was content to line up during these approximately two hours of exchanges.

New unemployment insurance rules

“We are going to create the conditions for the implementation of the new unemployment insurance rules, particularly concerning the aspect of the monthly payment system”assures Thibaut Guilluy. This new method of compensation is part of the draft agreement resulting from negotiations between employers and several unions, which would impose from 2025 on compensated job seekers an identical allowance each month, based on thirty days. Which would cause them to lose, over a full year, five days of compensation, and even six for leap years. The State, for its part, expects a saving of 1.2 billion over four years.

Will France Travail have the resources to deal with these new changes? While recognizing a period marked by “massive work”the manager ensures that the new arrangements will be operational. Without saying how, with the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts recruited during the Olympic Games, denounced last week by the unions, as well as the planned elimination of 500 full-time equivalents, included in the 2025 finance bill (PLF).

On the other hand, he spoke of his satisfaction with the restrictions on the rights of cross-border workers, other big losers from this draft agreement on unemployment insurance. The latter should suffer a significant reduction in their compensation, with the introduction of a coefficient applied to their rights linked to the salary level of the country in which they worked. It would also be necessary to revise the notion of “reasonable job offer », in order to dissuade them from refusing a position at the French salary level.

Measures which, according to a calculation by Unédic, should bring in 1.4 billion euros in savings over four years and to which Thibaut Guilluy has affirmed his full support. “As soon as I arrived (at the head of France Travail in 2023 – Editor’s note), I spoke of abusive behavior on the part of certain cross-border workers which results in misappropriation of the purpose of unemployment insurance”pointed out the former high commissioner for employment.

Implementation of the Full Employment Law

Is France Travail ready to welcome the two million RSA beneficiaries who will be forced, as the so-called full employment law will oblige them, from January 2025, to register as job seekers, under penalty of sanctions? linked to the payment of their allowance?

“I am not saying that these two million RSA beneficiaries will magically find work again”Thibaut Guilluy further eludes, evoking a “progressive approach”passed through an experimental phase in 2023 and an increase in power in 2024, as well as a “close co-construction with the departments”. “I really believe in what will happen locally”adds the manager, who is banking on directing beneficiaries to local systems.

What about the budgetary cuts on local authorities provided for by the finance bill (PLF)? “The PLF is not finished, it has for the moment been prepared in a very administrative manner”highlights the leader who is also banking on a redeployment of missions.

“We are an operator who has never stopped working on its efficiency”he still highlights. At what cost for employees? The unions, which organized a strike in Île-de-France last week, denounce pell-mell, work overload, precariousness, salaries at half mast, loss of meaning in the face of missions dictated by the politics of numbers. An observation also detailed in a report financed by Dares, published last August, which reports increasing suffering among the public operator's agents.

“We are extremely attentive to this issue of work overload”maintains Thibaut Guilluy, according to whom “a lot of things are done” faced with these cases of suffering. “First we measure them”he asserts, highlighting a “internal barometer”which would not indicate any particular degradation. Affirming that he shares the concerns of the unions on these issues, he also endeavors to quantify the state of social dialogue which would have ” double “ internally. In any case, it will not prevent trade union organizations from mobilizing on December 5 for a national strike.