PRESS RELEASE

The ETHIC Movement (Entreprises de Taille Humaine, Indépendantes et de Croissance) was received by Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, French Minister for Labor and Employment.

The ETHIC Movement was represented by Sophie de Menthon, President of the ETHIC Movement, accompanied by Emmanuel Millard, Chairman of ETHIC’s Finance Commission, General Secretary of the ENDRIX Group and President of ICFOA, and Nicolas Durand-Gasselin, Chairman of ETHIC’s Legal Commission and Managing Partner of the TNDA law firm.

The Minister was immediately very focused and attentive. In the same frame of mind as the entrepreneurs, she showed a real desire to see issues move forward very quickly.

For the first time, a minister in office is clearly reaching out to our companies, in order to rely directly on them on issues usually handled by politicians, even though these are priority issues that directly concern them.

Clearly, the experience of a career in the private sector completely changes the nature of exchanges with a Minister in charge of Labor and Employment.

We agreed on the following points:

Reintroducing the criterion of arduous work into the question of pensions.
The need to enhance the value of manual trades, without stubbornly sticking to a general baccalaureate that no longer has much value. ETHIC proposed to the Minister that she take up and bring to life a long-standing project: that of the “University of the Hand”.
The Minister was just as distressed as the entrepreneurs about the difference between gross and net salaries, which clearly affects purchasing power. But how can the difference be financed if social charges (employee and employer) are reduced? The Minister firmly stated that she had set herself the guiding principle of not committing a single euro of additional expenditure to reduce debt.

The ETHIC Movement has undertaken to reflect on the need to deal almost simultaneously with the integration of seniors and retirement. It would make a lot of sense to offer part-time jobs at the end of a career.

NB: the Minister shares the view of entrepreneurs who would like to see a real “Ministry of Enterprise”. They are the ones who create jobs, which is not an abstract notion.

Press contact: Stanislas Henry – +33 1 53 85 90 85