DISAPPEARANCE – Founder of Radiall, boss of the CNPF (ancestor of Medef) during the presidency of François Mitterrand, this man on the ground devoted his entire life to the defense of the company.
Defend an entrepreneurial society. Yvon Gattaz, the boss of bosses during the first years of François Mitterrand's presidency (1981-1986), worked for businesses all his life. Renowned for his pragmatism and vivacity, this emblematic figure of employers, endowed with an insatiable curiosity and a mischievous spirit, died on Thursday at the age of 99. Enough to elicit numerous tributes from business leaders, starting with his son, Pierre Gattaz, who was boss of bosses three decades later (2013-2018). « I never called him “dad” but “Yvon”, he confides to Figaro. He was a great friend, a confidant, and a great supporter when I was at Medef. We were engaged in the same battles for the company. »
Asked by Le Figaro, Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of the LVMH group, greets « the memory of Yvon Gattaz, a highly talented engineer, visionary founder of an industrial and technological group with global reach, tireless promoter of business, economic development and employment. Every French entrepreneur can be grateful to him for having carried, with courage and enthusiasm, the values of innovation, progress and shared prosperity which are those of private enterprise.. »
The tribute from the CEO of the world leader in luxury perfectly sums up the state of mind of all those who knew him. « Yvon Gattaz is a great Frenchman who disappears. Throughout his life, he was committed to serving our country and its economic and social health. He did it with immense brilliance and fierce combativeness. And always with humor ! He explained the acronym CNPF thus : “It’s not easy” », remembers former Medef president Laurence Parisot. Augustin de Romanet, CEO of ADP, honors, for his part, the memory of the man who « until the last breath will have campaigned for the integration of young people in business and for humanist companies ».
“Cumulate speed and excellence”
This boss was above all an entrepreneur, a pure product of French meritocracy. Born in 1925 in Isère, far from the Parisian business environment and even more so from the “200 families” supposed to rule French capitalism, this son of teachers had no vocation to become the spokesperson for French bosses. No more than creating a company in 1952, Radiall, a manufacturer of electrical connectors that became a world leader. When he was elected head of the National Council of French Employers (CNPF), ancestor of Medef, in December 1981, Yvon Gattaz was well aware that he would have to mark his territory. « For some it was a shock, he remembered in Bosses facing crisesbook by François Roche. Entrusting this august house to a “small boss”, out of the ranks, a member of no great body, did not please everyone, and some held a certain grudge against me.. »
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At this time, François Mitterrand had just been elected President of the Republic, marking the return to power of the left. The right is collapsed. The political and economic climate is very hostile to businesses and their managers. The latter are exasperated by increases in taxes, nationalizations and the 39-hour week. Not to mention the implementation of the tax on large fortunes (IGF), which became the wealth tax (ISF). « Yvon Gattaz fought stubbornly throughout his mandate to give priority to economic rationality in public debate, fighting in particular against over-regulation weighing on businesses. », recalls Medef.
Described as angry and cunning, the new boss of bosses will succeed in moving the lines by establishing a relationship with François Mitterrand, whom he will meet face-to-face thirteen times. This entrepreneur, neither heir to a large family nor symbol of big capital, offers an “exemplary” profile that is almost ideal, according to one of his close friends, to seduce the left of the 1980s. His career sets him apart from the profiles encountered at the time. within the employers. His motto, “Quite and well,” adorned a coat of arms in his office. « This maxim summed up all the art of the industry : combine speed and excellence », deciphers a loved one.
Medium-sized heritage companies, its other big fight
The meeting between the socialist government and a CNPF delegation led by Yvon Gattaz, in April 1982, was founding. At the end of this meeting, Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy announced a reduction in social charges, but not only that. « Yvon Gattaz above all succeeded in convincing François Mitterrand to exclude companies from the scope of the ISF in an hour of interview », remembers Sophie de Menthon, president of the Ethic employers’ movement, founded in 1976 by Yvon Gattaz. He thus accomplished a mission dear to his heart. To act and change mentalities about the role of business in society among political leaders, the head of the CNPF is giving himself the means. At the end of December 1982, the States General of Companies, in Villepinte, met with unprecedented success, bringing together 25,000 bosses.
In many ways, Yvon Gattaz was a start-up creator before his time. At the end of the 1940s, just out of the École centrale de Paris, he created his company, with his brother, also an engineer.
They are demanding in unison a moratorium on the anti-business measures defended tooth and nail by the communists of the Mauroy government. A non-aggression pact is sealed: in exchange, the executive asks the employers for political neutrality. This concession is costly to the French right, by depriving it of part of its funding. The other great fight of Yvon Gattaz, renowned for “Gattazisms”, these words that he liked to invent, are the MEPs: medium-sized heritage companies, those which make up the strength of the Mittelstand, the German industrial fabric, and that the French boss dreams of growing on this side of the Rhine. After leaving the presidency of the CNPF, he kept his pilgrim's staff, as a fervent defender of business transfer, increasing his speeches to explain the need to preserve filiations and prevent French jewels from passing under foreign flags.
He is at the origin of the Dutreil laws, which are more favorable to the transfer of family businesses. In many ways, Yvon Gattaz was a start-up creator before his time. At the end of the 1940s, just out of the École centrale de Paris, he created his company, with his brother, also an engineer, in a small workshop in eastern Paris, almost a garage. Radiall is quickly establishing itself in its sector. He entrusted the reins to his son, Pierre Gattaz, in 1993. The latter would later become boss of bosses, at the head of Medef (new name of the CNPF), under another socialist president, François Hollande. « To each François his Gattaz », Yvon said to his son.
