France: multi-industry agreement on harassment and violence at work about to be signed

A concrete framework to fight against harassment and violence at work. During their last meeting on the subject on March 26, the trade unions (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, FO and CGT) and employers’ organizations (Medef, CGPME and UPA) finalized a draft agreement implementing the European framework agreement on harassment and violence at work (see our dispatch No. 070377). The draft still needs to be approved by the executives committees of the negotiating parties to be signed. In line with the European agreement which sets the principle of zero tolerance of these phenomena, the draft agreement states that the “respect for the dignity of others at all levels is a fundamental principle which cannot be violated, included on the workplace. This is why harassment and violence, which seriously violate this principle, are intolerable.” One of the objectives of these agreements is therefore to “provide a concrete framework for the identification, the prevention and the management of problems of harassment and violence at work,” a framework for all businesses, regardless of their workforce, even though the modalities can vary with their size.