The meeting lasted just over a quarter of an hour. In an atmosphere "extremely cold", it was reported. Laurence Parisot, president of Medef and Frederic Saint-Geours, president of the Union of Industrial and metal trades (UIMM) have quickly concluded, Tuesday, March 4, a list of their disagreements. Done rare, they continued to take the view to witness the serious crisis that has rocked the french employers. Ms. Parisot was RTL on Monday and Tuesday, the newspaper of France 3. Mr. Saint-Geours had chosen France 2 France Inter Monday and Tuesday.

The two leaders flaunt their different face uncovered by awarding themselves patents strength of "transparency", "renewal" and "modernity". This new battle lies first with pictures and communication. She hides another issue: the power of representation and employer mandates in the official organs and structures of social paritarism.

At its meeting of crisis, Monday, March 3, the office of the UIMM thought he made a step towards healing. He had decided to separate on the scope of its general delegate and former President Denis Gautier-Sauvagac. The latter had agreed to renegotiate the terms of his departure and in particular compensation of 1.5 million euros. His deputy, Dominique de Calan, had been relieved of his duties as deputy general delegate and deprived of the chairmanship of the pension fund AGIRC complementary.

Investi full powers, Mr. Saint-Geours that his company hoped to "renovation" and "transparency" would be enough to mollify leaders of Medef. The final hardening of positions inspired by the elders of metallurgy and territorial representatives has done everything derail. Following the resignation of Michel de Virille the Presidency of the Unedic, they were opposed to handing the mandates representation exercised by the UIMM, like sommait Ms. Parisot.

"Modern? It is or it is not. This is not a path that we borrowed", replied dryly president of the Medef, Tuesday, on France 3. A little earlier she had conceded that "the UIMM were just moves things forward. But not enough."

The real battle is that of national mandates in the structures of paritarism. And they are many: a little more than 900 - including one hundred detained by the UIMM - in such diverse areas as unemployment insurance, pension funds, the initial and continuous training, housing, social welfare, occupational medicine, collective agreements… but also the Economic and Social Council, the regional assemblies, the official centers of expertise, all of which give rise to specific funding.

It is the control of this representation that the Medef intends to resume in hand. "You can not take a single federation can represent all businesses," said Parisot Tuesday on France 3. "What I ask is to put mandates in the hands of entrepreneurs and pull them out of men or women device," she said.

This hardening of the position of Medef, according to the UIMM, a sign of a willingness to "break". "Laurence Parisot is entering into a logic of confrontation and power. Nobody nothing to be gained by weakening the industry already threatened by job losses," rejoinder there at the headquarters of the metal. Treasurer of the federation, Jean-Jacques Legay, the UIMM d'Alsace, is concerned about the consequences of this' hang on the network of local associations certainly upset by what happened, but deeply committed to the UIMM and its capabilities and management expertise. "

In Medef, some already dream to take this opportunity to engage in a major restructuring with the disappearance of the "strongholds" of the federations. Tuesday, Ms. Parisot has received the support of Carlos Ghosn, president of Renault. And that of Claude Bebear, honorary president of Axa (insurance) Wednesday in Le Parisien: "We must rethink the entire organisation Medef depending on the evolution of the economy. It is normal, he said that the UIMM plays an important role, but that role must be commensurate with its importance in the economy, and it is clearly disproportionate. "