Faced with the multiplication of short contracts, it seems necessary to review the concept of “ fixed -term contracts for use »: Its conditions of use for companies and the counterparties offered to employees must be flat and discussed collectively in the branches.
The problem
In France, the growing weight of CDD In hiring flows since the mid -2000s is a now well documented phenomenon (Milin, 2018). L’Oneic (2018) has shown that this rise in short contracts is the result of a small number of sectors, very short users of contracts (a few days at most), in which employers regularly rehire the same employees.
The user sectors of these very short contracts are partly those commonly identified as sectors with CDD of use (CDDU). THE CDDU are a legal form of short contract less regulated than the CDD Classic: they allow a reduced cost of labor and a lower time commitment for employers (no precariousness bonus, no deficiency period or limit to the renewal of the contract for example), but they also create particularly hard conditions of employment for employees (Rémy & Simonnet, 2021).
To date, the conditions for recourse to CDDU are poorly defined by law. The latter does not precisely identify the sectors and trades authorized to use this type of contract, and many CDDU are concluded outside the regulatory sectors (as the report of theIgas in 2015 or the report of Cnis in 2016).
In addition, in most user sectors of CDD In use, no specific support system is set up to support employees (the compensation system specific to the intermittents of the show is an exception), even though certain sectors are also distinguished by particularly difficult working conditions.
The proposal
Define a precise and exhaustive list of sectors and trades authorized to mobilize CDD of use, which would serve as the basis for monitoring the conditions of employment and for negotiating counterparties for employees (establishment of compensated rest period, access to training or assistance in the construction of sustainable trajectories for example).
How does it work
The definition of an exhaustive list of sectors and professions authorized to mobilize CDDU constitutes a first key step. Such a list would monitor the conditions of employment and work in these sectors, but also profiles and trajectories of employees. From the point of view of public statistics, this approach would make it possible to respond to the recommendation of the report of Cnis (2016) andIgas (2015) to clearly identify the CDDU.
This information could feed public debate, political decisions and branch negotiations. They will thus be able to serve as a basis for the possible reform of the list of sectors concerned, but also and above all for the negotiation of support systems for employees at the sectoral level.
On what research work is the proposal founded
The development of short -term contracts is a problem now well known in France. The share of CDD From less than a month in hiring represents in 2022 64% among hires while this share amounted to 50% in 2002 (Signoretto et al., 2023).
While in the first intention, the use of CDD mainly refers to a need to adjust the activity, several studies have shown that the use of CDD Very short duration appears to be disconnected from variations in activity (Duhautois & Petit, 2023 ; Mauchaussée et al., 2024 ; Oneic2018). Far from use in the context of punctual, distinct, and not very predictable missions, CDD appears as a structural tool, flexible labor management.
Field work with employees and employers in the user sectors of short contracts also highlight the structural nature of these practices, but also the poor associated working conditions (Rémy & Simonnet, 2021).
How to implement
A first step would be to organize a social conference between labor administration, social affairs administration, researchers specializing in labor and representing sectors potentially users of CDD used in order to identify a list of sectors eligible for the use of these atypical contracts. This social conference must also discuss the counterparts to be set up to make these conditions of employment acceptable for employees.
The statistical services of the Ministry of Labor (Dares) and theOneic Could then ensure an inventory, then follow -up of employer practices and employee trajectories in the sectors.
The second key step in the proposed reform is the establishment of compulsory branch negotiations on the counterparts implemented for employees (in the sectors in CDD of use). The information produced by the ministry and theOneic could serve as a basis for these negotiations.
In view of the recent experience of incentives to negotiate on the working and employment conditions of employees of the “ second line », It seems crucial to establish a penalty system in the absence of counterparts (Erhel, Moreau-Follenfant, 2021 and Erhel, 2023). These penalties could go from “ penalty »On social security contributions associated with CDDU to the ban on the use of these contracts. Such negotiations should be carried out regularly (for example every 3 years) in order to ensure the adequacy between counterparts and current employment conditions.