Amid the coronavirus pandemic and successive lockdowns, social partners have been forced for the first time to conduct negotiations remotely. They have moved swiftly to adapt to digital tools and find a new methodology for negotiations that ultimately allows debates to be better framed and structured. A study carried out by the association Réalités du Dialogue Social (‘realities of social dialogue’ - RDS), which spoke to 27 HR and trade union representatives, shows that, although virtual meetings make exchanges more complicated and cause a greater level of fatigue among participants, digital technology can also be a means of improving talks.
As long as the pre-existing social dialogue is good, the need to use digital technology does not prevent agreements being signed and can even make negotiations more effective. On the other hand, against a backdrop where the social climate is deteriorating, digital technology can cause tensions to crystallise and become a real obstacle. This is the picture painted by a study entitled “from online collective bargaining to the dematerialised signing of agreements”, conducted by RDS on 27 of its members, of which 55.5% are from the sphere of HR (human resources directors and social relations directors) and 44.5% are union representatives (25% from the CFDT union, 25% from the CFE-CGC, 16.7% CFTC, 8.3% CGT and 8.3% UNSA).
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