A “disguised CPE”: what is this new proposal from Medef for youth employment that is angering the unions?

A new contract for young people which brings back memories. In documents submitted to trade union organizations on Wednesday, Medef notably proposes the creation of a permanent contract “which can be terminated without cause during the first years” in order to combat youth unemployment.

A system which is reminiscent of the “first employment contract” (CPE) created in 2006 by Dominique de Villepin then Prime Minister, which generated historic mobilization and led the government to abolish it before its application.

Enough to anger the Unef which on Saturday brandished the threat of mobilization if this “new disguised CPE” was “imposed”. The student union considers this measure “unacceptable” and says it refuses to allow youth to be an “economic adjustment variable”. “Unef calls on all youth, students and workers, to mobilize against these unacceptable attacks,” writes the union in a press release published the day after the release of documents from the main employers’ organization.

The measure “aims to create a generation of young precarious workers, forced to work at will, without rights or protections,” denounces Unef, which asks trade union organizations “to categorically refuse any negotiation on these bases and for progressive political forces to firmly oppose it.”

Adapt the salary to young people

The CGT on Saturday described these measures as a “declaration of war” made “on young people and employees” and warned that it would “categorically refuse to engage in any negotiation” which would include “these elements”.

Concerning the employers’ suggestion to adapt the level of remuneration of first-time entrants, Unef denounces “pure and simple discrimination based on age” which “would further precarious hundreds of thousands of young people already faced with exploding precariousness and deplorable working conditions”.

“If the government or employers try to impose these attacks against our social camp, we will be able, as in 2006, to mobilize massively to push them back,” warns Unef. Asked by AFP on Friday, Medef assured that for the moment these were only “proposals to fuel the debate. »

These measures are intended to tackle the problem of young NEETs (neither in employment, nor in studies, nor in training), a category which represented 12.3% of French people aged 15 to 29 in 2023, reports the main employers’ organization.