Contenu du sommaire : Dossier : Négocier l'ajustement de l'emploi dans la crise. Deux éclairages à partir des post-enquêtes à l'enquête REPONSE

Internet has raised considerable expectations in terms of bringing jobseekers and recruiters together, yet there have been few attempts to make full use of its capacities to help reduce unemployment. The concept of a transparent labour market, often held to be a particular strength of the internet, in fact dates back to the French national employment agency's (ANPE) founding mission statement in 1967. The emphasis it placed on promoting information channels to develop a fluid labour market was maintained even when mass unemployment became the norm. The ANPE's successor Pôle Emploi's stance on transparency, however, has developed a more managerial tone. Jobseeking is being automated to speed up the process, allowing staff to handle more cases. This strategy overlooks the fact that one or more intermediaries must necessarily be involved to enable information to circulate. The present article analyses the diversity of such processes and the way they structure the allocation of workers to workstations.

In response to the difficulty of compiling reliable statistical data on how business restructuring is implemented, the article offers an institutional and statistical analysis of the way companies manage employees involved in reorganisations that entail job losses. It demonstrates that employers use a broad range of legal procedures to reduce their workforce, above and beyond economic redundancies. These types of layoffs developed progressively from the 1960s on, mainly driven by the public administration, and increasingly involve a legal situation whereby the employee agrees to his contract being terminated and to the terms of the assistance package. The effect has been to reduce tensions over restructuring as social and legal challenges to the process are lessened.

The article aims to shed light on the processes of adjustment used by companies in times of economic crisis by defining them and analysing the way they are debated and negotiated, or imposed by the management. Its methodology is based on fifteen full-length company profiles compiled at the post-survey stage of the 2010-2011 REPONSE survey into professional relations and branch-level bargaining. It demonstrates that businesses are not facing one overarching crisis, but a series of smaller ones. The worsening economic climate is not the sole cause of the adjustments observed, though it may be seen as some justification for them. The article also gives an account of the range of adjustments, the sequence in which they took place and the way they became polarised between defensive bargaining and concessions. The economic crisis offers fertile ground for imposing compromises on the workforce.

The article draws on data from the 2004-2005 and 2010-2011 REPONSE surveys into professional relations and branch-level bargaining and fulllength studies of fifteen French businesses characterised by a range of labour-management relations. Its initial premise is based on an observation that may seem paradoxical : social dialogue within the companies increased in times of economic crisis. It explores the meaning and scope of the increase, which arose in part as a result of developments in so-called “administered” bargaining, analysing the process by which employment relation regulations are currently undergoing reconfiguration. It demonstrates how the increased difficulty in opening up employment matters for debate in times of economic crisis leads to a partial repositioning and increasing investment in issues surrounding working conditions. This contrasts with the commitment to training, which, though standard, is rarely considered strategically.