The Medef and the UIMM unable to find agreement

The meeting on Tuesday between the president of the employers' federation of Metallurgy and Laurence Parisot has not gone well. There is in particular no agreement on the issue of warrants exercised by the UIMM in joint organizations.

The amount of compensation to the former boss of the UIMM is still in debate
The amount of compensation to the former boss of the UIMM is still in debate
The tug-of-war initiated by the president of Medef with its powerful federation of metallurgy is far from finished. The meeting held Tuesday between the two main players in this affair, Laurence Parisot, president of Medef, and Frederic Saint-Geours, president of the Union of Industrial and metal trades (UIMM), they have not allowed to agree. "The interview was not satisfactory. Issue warrants remains open," said a spokesman for the Medef. The UIMM had abstained for its share of any comment.

Clearly, the president of Medef not satisfied with the decisions taken by the leadership of the UIMM after the controversy over severance pay by Denis Gautier-Sauvagnac, its former president. Emergency Meeting Monday, the office of the UIMM did not accede to the main request by the president of Medef: that the leaders of the UIMM make all their mandates. Only the secretary general of Renault, Michel de Virville, resigned as president of the Unedic.

In contrast, the governing body of the federation has decided to re-examine the benefits of "retirement" obtained by Denis Gautier-Sauvagnac, under investigation for breach of trust in the case of cash withdrawals at least 19 million euros between 2000 and 2007 in bank accounts in the UIMM. But no question of depriving the former president of the UIMM, which was for years one of the key leaders and negotiators of Medef, any cheque of departure. According to the operative actuelleement planned, it should reach 1.5 million euros, plus the assumption by the UIMM tax consequences of the case of cash withdrawals.

"It is normal that if retired parte it with something," said Monday night on France 2 the president of the UIMM Frederic Saint-Geours, recalling that Denis Gautier-Sauvagnac is "employee" UIMM past 15 years. " DGS, which was still managing director of the UIMM, and Dominique de Calan, his deputy, also under investigation in the case of withdrawals suspects, were forced to leave.

Reactions to the twists and turns of the case have multiplied UIMM Tuesday. The former president Jean-Louis Safran Béchat, a member of the UIMM office, said that Michel de Virville must resign from the office of the UIMM because he himself has negotiated severance expenses of DGS. "When it was reported in the press that he had 13 months' notice and more than four years of compensation, many board members were shocked," said Jean-Louis Béchat on BFM. However, the transaction obtained by Denis Gautier-Sauvagnac was unanimously approved by the officers of the UIMM in December.

Meanwhile, the president of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, supports Laurence Parisot's determination to improve the functioning of employers' bodies. "If there is suspicion, where lack of transparency, where mistrust, it must change," said Carlos Ghosn on France Inter. The Union professional craft (UPA) said his side "disturbed" by "the negative image that comes with the social partners and rejects any linkage between the different organisations," she says in a statement.

For Frederic Saint-Geours, traditional practices of the UIMM supposed to "loosen social dialogue", in the words of DGS, have become parties of the past. "I am here to make it no longer exists," he said Tuesday on France Inter. He promised that the UIMM soon be "exemplary" in terms of its functioning and management, and said that his federation could certify its accounts as of this year, as the president of Medef wishes. "I understood that the aim of Laurence Parisot was transparency, clarity," he stressed.

Remaining on the reservation so far, the Prime Minister Francois Fillon has approved Tuesday the attitude of the patron saint of Medef, believing it was "good response". "Everybody was shocked by both the amount of severance pay by Denis Gautier-Sauvagnac, but especially by the method," he said on Europe 1. However, the "role of government is not a substitute for justice," stressed the Prime Minister.

Trade unions believe that the time of structural reforms employer organisations rang. "We want Laurence Parisot finally accepts that we can discuss the financing of organisations and their representativeness in the same way that we are talking to the unions," said Tuesday on France Info Maryse Dumas, confederal secretary CGT .

FO stresses the paralysis that the case involved in the sector negotiations and the joint bodies. "On unemployment insurance, supplementary pensions, what will be the" employer? "At least on the timing, there will be some problems," said on BFM secretary general of the FO, Jean-Claude Mailly. However, it does not "interfere" business management.