Elisabeth Borne gave Monday, October 16 until June 1 to professional branches with salary minimums below the minimum wage to make “significant progress”, otherwise threatening to go through a “law”.
Given that the minimum wage increases more quickly (with inflation, to which it is indexed) than the rest of wages, certain branch minimums are caught up, generating a “flattening” of wages, denounced by the unions.
In this regard, the Ministry of Labor will “soon” receive all the branches having minimums below the minimum wage “so that they can explain their delay” and “we will make known the list of these branches in the coming weeks”, said indicated the Prime Minister as she closed the social conference.
And “if we do not see significant progress by June 1, 2024, the government will propose to Parliament a text of law which will allow exemptions to be calculated, not on the basis of the minimum wage, but on the basis of the branch minimum “, warned the head of government.
“10 branches have minimums permanently lower than the minimum wage”
However, companies in these branches that already have salary scales in line with the minimum wage “will not be affected”, she clarified. Medef (employers) pointed out that “sanctioning a company which is up to date with its salaries, on the grounds that its branch is not, is legally impossible”.
“Today, 10 branches have minimums that are permanently lower than the minimum wage,” according to Elisabeth Borne. “Certainly, there have been improvements in recent years, but the situation remains unsatisfactory” and “we must together quickly remedy this situation,” she said.
“Everyone must take their responsibilities. I invite these branches to open negotiations without delay. And if that is not enough, we will take ours,” she concluded. A lower minimum does not mean that employees are paid below the minimum wage: the employer must make up the gap. But when several levels of seniority are caught up by the minimum wage, this generates a “flattening” of wages with an increased concentration of employees around the minimum wage. In other words, even with several years of seniority, the employee remains at the minimum wage.