Michelin is one of those French companies well anchored in the region, with a strong image and managers whose words have always been heard in the political and business world. The message has, basically, hardly changed for several decades: let companies work, and they will develop for the greatest benefit of the country and their employees.
In fact, the company never hesitates to take radical measures to reorganize its activities and transform, or even close, its production sites when it deems it necessary to maintain its competitiveness. In return, it pursues a salary policy which is far from unworthy.
This is why the announcement, on April 17, of the guarantee of a “decent salary” and a “universal social protection floor” for all of the group’s employees around the world is not completely surprising. The declarations of its president Florent Menegaux, according to which the minimum wage is not a decent salary, are not really either.
Global Compact
This idea of a decent wage (or living wage) is not new. Moreover, in France, companies like Danone or L’Oréal, to name a few, have already started to put it into practice. In the founding text of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 1919, we already find this notion of “the guarantee of a salary ensuring suitable living conditions”. But it is really in recent years that we have seen this notion occupy an increasingly important place.
In 2000, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, launched the project of a Global Compact, with ten principles which should guide companies to achieve seventeen sustainable development objectives, including that of “promoting a sustained, shared and sustainable economic growth,…
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