INTERNATIONAL EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS

International Employment Relations

International Employment Relations in France

In the field of industrial and labor relations, France is probably still the most inaccessible of the bigger European countries. Germany and Italy have their "friends" in the United States, but only bits of the abundant IR debate and research in France leak out into Anglo-Saxon literature. According to the data, working and employment conditions in small and very small firms are far less attractive than in bigger companies. However, some people do prefer small and micro-firms because they find the informal and individual nature of their employment relations motivating: they can take initiatives and have responsibilities, they subscribe to the company project and relations are closer and less formal. Social relations vary according not only to firm size, but also to the manager's socio-cultural profile and behaviour, the geographical area of the firm, the structuring of the profession, the labour market, the independence of the company, the local network, etc.

The number of staff representatives is very low in small firms and it is even lower when it comes to union memberships. In France, the rate of unionisation is globally of 6-8%: 12% in the Public Domain, and 5% in the private, essentially in big companies. Social relations are a sum of inter-individual arrangements rather than something official and organised, which explains the small level of unionisation. Moreover, the general trend is towards a decrease in the unionisation of the staff representative. In very small firms, there is little collective representation. Employees are most often agents of the production process or key people for social exchanges with the clients. Therefore co-operation from employees is essential for the good functioning of the firm, conflicts are rare, and consequently, union representation does not seem to apply for micro-firms in France. In small and very ...