Minister of Labor defends the reform of the RSA, dismissing opponents as “forced labor”

The Minister of Labor once again defended the reform of the RSA, compared to “forced labor” by some of its opponents.

“It’s beyond me!” Olivier Dussopt exclaims, referring to the protests made on the left against the reform of the RSA. “Some on the left explained to us that investing a billion euros in integration by 2027 was akin to forced labor,” he laments, in an interview with Telegram this Sunday, October 22.

The so-called “full employment” bill, which notably provides for a reform of the active solidarity income (RSA), was adopted at first reading in the Assembly on October 10. As a reminder, it provides that all people with the RSA will have to carry out 15 hours of activities per week (internship, coaching, company immersion, etc.). If Olivier Dussopt did not wish to include a precise number of hours in the law, he ultimately had to back down under pressure from the Republicans. Exemptions may, however, be granted to people experiencing “particular and proven difficulties”, such as a disability or custody problems.

A measure widely criticized on the left that the minister continues to defend forcefully. “I don’t know anything more effective than work in the fight against poverty,” he said in the columns of the regional daily.

“When you’re on the left like me, we’re not absolved of our duty of solidarity when we’ve given 607 euros to someone. It’s called charity or good conscience,” he adds.

The text must now be the subject of negotiation between deputies and senators to try to reach a common version of the bill, already adopted in July by the upper house.

56 branches under the minimum wage, or 5 million employees

Asked about the social conference on salaries and careers organized on October 16 by the government, Olivier Dussopt wanted to highlight its concrete effects such as the meeting organized “soon” with representatives of professional branches whose salary scales are below the minimum wage. .

“There are 56 as of October 13, that represents almost five million employees,” he recalled.

But it is above all the threat brandished at the start of the week by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne which emerged from these discussions. “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” , declared the Prime Minister while closing the social conference.

In the columns of Le Télégramme, the Minister of Labor confirms the deadline of June 1, 2024 for companies to comply. It also specifies that the latter can escape the reduction in contribution exemptions by doing better than their branch of association on low salaries.

“If, by June 1, 2024, these branches have done nothing, we will ensure that companies that do not have a better salary dynamic than that of their branch of association are sanctioned by a modulation of exemptions from contributions” , explains Olivier Dussopt.