Prime Minister Manuel Valls today received a report from the former Director General of Labor, Jean Denis Combrexelle that proposes reducing the legal element in employment relations in favor of more collective bargaining. This can be seen as revolutionary in a country with a longstanding legalist tradition where even the union movement is more inclined to place its trust in the legislator than in the unions’ own capacity to act. Mr. Valls has retained the report’s primary proposals and intends for a draft law by the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016, following collaboration with the social partners. It is expected to come into force before the summer 2016.
The Prime Minister had tasked Mr. Combrexelle with “allocating more importance to collective agreement in the country’s labor law”, with the subtext also being that this would lead to real reform of the Labor Code by reducing the role of law now deemed inapt in catering for the realities and constraints facing today’s business community. Behind the language used in the report about enlargement sits the recommendation of actually substituting the law in favor of negotiation.
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