In the middle of the budgetary debate in Parliament, the elimination of a second public holiday resurfaces as an option in order to reduce the Social Security deficit, 20 years after the establishment of the first day of solidarity.
After Pentecost Monday, which will be the next of the ten public holidays to be abolished to establish a second day of solidarity? The recent commemorations of November 11 have relaunched debates around this budgetary measure to which the government is open if we are to believe the recent declarations of Antoine Armand and Laurent Saint-Martin. The establishment of a second day of solidarity, twenty years after the first initially set for Pentecost Monday, could bring in around three billion additional revenues into the Social Security coffers, the deficit of which is expected to reach 16 billion euros. This year.
If this avenue must first be the subject of a parliamentary discussion during the examination of the Social Security financing bill, questions relating to its concrete application are already being asked. The example of the first solidarity day established in 2004 provides some answers to this system through which employers pay a tax of 0.30% of their payroll in order to finance actions in favor of personal autonomy. elderly or disabled.
Several implementation methods
There are few recent polls and surveys on how companies carry out solidarity day within their structure. As the public administration website points out, “the terms and conditions for carrying out the solidarity day are set by company (or establishment) convention or agreement or by branch agreement. In the absence of a collective agreement, they are defined by the employer after consultation with the staff representation body.”
Whether in the private or public sector, it takes the form of an additional day of work over the year which is unpaid. This can occur on a public holiday, notably Whit Monday as initially provided for in the measure, but this date gradually became a non-working day again from 2008 when the solidarity day was no longer automatically fixed on Whit Monday. The other solutions consist of working on an RTT day (or eliminating one in the public sector) or opting for another modality “allowing the work of 7 hours previously not worked”. For example, the SNCF decided to smooth the solidarity day over the whole year by increasing the daily working time by just under two minutes.
Pentecost Monday more worked within SMEs and in the tertiary sector
According to a Randstad group survey carried out in 2016, 70% of employees do not work on Pentecost Monday and therefore take a day off or RTT when their company has kept the solidarity day on this date. According to the survey by the specialist in human resources services, factors can vary activity on Pentecost Monday, starting with the size of companies. If employees of large groups tend not to work today, “the situation is more mixed” for those of SMEs for “cash flow reasons or the need to deliver certain orders on time”.
“In SMEs, we had no other choice than to impose an additional day of work to finance the 0.3% contribution”, indicates to Parisian the secretary general of the CPME Jean-Eudes du Mesnil du Buisson.
Likewise, situations diverge between sectors of activity. While the majority of industrial groups close up shop on Pentecost Monday, as do public works and logistics companies (with the exception of certain construction sites), the service sector tends to remain mobilized during this day, in particular companies “in the hotel industry, retail stores, DIY stores or mass distribution”.
Standardize application between private and public sectors
In the event of the establishment of a second day of solidarity, number 2 of the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises is already pleading for uniform application in order to avoid the vagueness caused at the start of the first experiment there at 20 years old. “This time, everyone must be treated the same way, in the private sector but also in the public,” he insists to the Parisian.
Several issues will have to be managed upstream, such as whether or not to close schools so that working parents can find solutions for their children if necessary. Likewise, stakeholders in the tourism sector and organizers of sporting or cultural events will need to be consulted due to the significant consequences on their activity. Finally, the choice of the “sacrificed” public holiday will not have the same repercussions if it is November 11, May 8 or even August 15.
