wp3. country case study: france - i-wire · 1 independent workers and industrial relations in...
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Project co-funded by: EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion
I -WIRE Independent Workers and Industrial Relations in Europe
Document Title: Country case study – France
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Independent Workers and Industrial Relations in Europe
WP3. Country case study: France
AGREEMENT NUMBER : VS/2016/0149
March 2017
Marie-Christine Bureau
Antonella Corsani
Bernard Gazier
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PART I: GENERAL OVERVIEW
FRANCE
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I. DEFINITION OF THE NATIONAL FRAMEWORK ON NEW
AUTONOMOUS WORKERS
GENERAL DATA
In 2016 a statistical report remitted to the Conseil National de l'Information Statistique (Gazier,
Picart and Minni 2016) on “the diversity of employment forms” stresses the need to make more
coherent the rich but poorly coordinated statistical apparatus in France, especially regarding the
employment forms intermediate between independent and salaried work..
Let's start with an overview of the labour market in France in 2015 (INSEE, Employment
Survey):
Employment status and type of contract
Total Gender (%) Age (%)
(thousands) (%) Women Men 15-24 25-49 50 or
more
Non-salaried 2 982 11,5 8,2 14,7 2,2 10,3 16,7
Salaried 22 862 88,5 91,8 85,3 97,8 89,7 83,3
Permanent
contract 19 560 85,6 85,2 85,9 44,9 87,8 93,2
Fixed term
contract 2 370 10,4 12,3 8,5 32,2 9,4 5,8
Apprenticeship 365 1,6 1,1 2,1 16,5 0,2 0,0
Interim 565 2,5 1,4 3,5 6,4 2,6 1,0
Unemployed 2876
Active pop. 28422
15-64 years 39746
Concerning the independent workers, the latest statistical survey was published by INSEE (2015):
« Emploi et revenus des indépendants » (Employment and revenues of independent workers).
According to this survey, at the end of 2011, 2.8 million persons in France are engaged in a
self-employed activity, whether as a main occupation or as a complement of a salaried
activity. The INSEE distinguishes the independent workers (3 million people) characterised by
the absence of subordination and, among them, the non-salaried people (2,8 million) who are
covered by the social protection regime of the self-employed.
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Sector breakdown of non-salaried people at 31st
December 2011 (INSEE)
Trade and craft industry 21%
Corporate or mixed services 21%
Retail services (excluding health) 20%
Health and social action 17%
Construction 14%
Industry (excluding craft) 5%
Transports 3%
Total 100%
Let us complete this snapshot approach by additional information on the evolution and on
different components of the group of independent workers.
From 2006 to 2011, excluding agriculture, the number of non-salaried people has
increased by 26 %, and even more in some services: management consulting, design,
computing, artistic and recreational activities or education, in particular. This vitality is
partly tied with the success of the auto-entrepreneur status. Introduced by the law of 4
August 2008, this regime does not create a specific status, rather a microsocial regime for
independent workers pursuing small-scale activities, which means the right for them to benefit
from simplified tax returns and social security contributions, subject to a maximum turnover. At
the end of 2011, 487 000 auto-entrepreneurs were economically active, that means one in five
non-salaried people, excluding agriculture. 33 % of them performed a salaried occupation as a
complement of their self-employed activity, compared to 10 % of the traditional non-salaried
people. In 2015, more than one million autoentrepreneurs are administratively registered and 619
000 economically active (Acoss, 2016). 37% of the autoentrepreneurs are women.
The category of “independent worker without employee” is not measured in this INSEE's
survey. On the basis of the INSEE’s data, J. Barthélémy and G. Cette (2017) estimate that this
group represents 6, 8% of the global employment in 2014. The figures published by the OECD
are slightly higher: 8% of the global employment in France in 20151.
Overall, the population of the non-salaried people is more likely to be older and male: in
2011, the women represent only one third of the non-salaried non-agricultural workers, while
they account for 40 % of the employees in the private sector and 60 % of the employees in the
public service. The median age of non-salaried is 45 against 38 for employees in the private
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http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/industry-and-services/self-employed-without-
employees/indicator/french_d1929c76-fr
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sector. They start their activity later, often after an employment experience, and withdraw from
business at a later age. Thus there are more non-salaried people over 60 than under 30 (11.4 % in
2011 against 9.2 %, for all non-agricultural sectors).
As regard to the auto-entrepreneurs, the creation of a company under this status concerns people
of all ages (INSEE). 42 % of them are between 20 and 34 (versus 33 % for the whole active
population), and 17% between 25 and 29. They are more qualified than the French population :
24 % of them attained a university graduate degree (second or third cycle), 14 % a first cycle
degree, 20 % a general or technological bachelor’s degree, 23% a certificate of professional
competence, while 19 % obtained at most a “brevet des collèges”.
A recent survey from the Fondation “Travailler autrement” (2016) focuses on three groups of
independent workers : the auto-entrepreneurs, the persons salaried by an umbrella company (i.e.
the “wage portage”, the other entrepreneurs (without employee). It highlights significant
differences between these groups : those who have chosen the wage portage are more likely
to be men, around 54, with a high level of education, involved in the professional
services, whereas the group autoentrepreneurs is more gender-balanced, younger (48
years in average), less skilled and involved in various sectors. The third group is
characterized by the large proportion of people whose independent activity is the primary activity
(83%) and who have started it a long time ago (11 years in average) .
The recent study from France Strategie, Salarié ou indépendant? Une question de métiers (September
2017) brings a dynamic perspective and explicitly introduces “freelancers” among different types
of employment statuses. The study first highlights the complexity of the link between the
employment status and the type of trade. From 1984 until 2014, some professions created both
salaried work and self-employment, while having a self-employment rate above the average,
especially the health care and culture-related professions or the information and training trades.
At the same time, the rate of salaried employment increased for some traditional independent
workers (farmers, liberal professions, child minders, aso.). Second, the study puts to the forefront
the revival of independent work, among which freelancers, as it it shown in the two graphs
below.
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Four main groups of occupations in France, salaried and non-salaried, 2014
Source: France Stratégie (2017)
Vertical axis : from occupations dominated by salaried work (down) to occupations dominated by
independent work (up); horizontal axis : two ways of diversification, mainly by short-term salaried
contracts (Contrats à durée limitée, CDL), left, and mainly by independent work, right.
“Intermittents” refers here to occupations with mainly salaried workers on short duration contracts.
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Occupations creating salaried and non-salaried work between 1984 and 2014
Source: France Stratégie (2017). In green, occupations with a % of salaried work above the national mean
in 2014; in orange, occupations with a % on non-salaried work above the national mean in 2014.
Horizontal axis: non-salaried work, losses (left) and gains (right) between 1984 and 2014; vertical axis:
salaried work, losses (down) and gains (up) between 1984 and 2014.
EARNINGS
According to the INSEE’s survey, the « traditional » non-salaried people earn an average of
3 100 euros per month. Trade (except for stores), arts and entertainment, hairdressing, taxi
driving and education are the less profitable sectors, while average incomes are the highest in
legal professions, health professions or pharmaceutical trade. Inequalities appear to be higher
among the non-salaried people than among the employees in the private sector: 10% of
the most well remunerated independent workers account for 41 % of the revenues (against 33 %
for salaried people). However the auto-entrepreneurs earn an average of 460 euros per
month, with little variation between the different sectors.
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WORK CONDITIONS
Based on the INSEE’s data (2015), independent workers are less subjected to rhythm
constraints but more of them have sometimes to work in the urgency. 11% of them consider
they lack autonomy, against 30% of salaried workers. For 31% of them, work has a hold of
their life (versus 4% of salaried workers). The duration of work is particularly long for
independent workers, though reducing since 2005. According to the Employment Survey
(enquête Emploi, 2007), they work an average of 53.3 hours per week, against 37.6 for the entire
active working population.
In 2013, they are more concerned about their job (30%) than salaried people, while it was the
opposite in 2005. Furthermore (especially as regards physical strains), their working conditions
are close to those of salaried workers belonging to the same social groups: proximity
between executives and “professions libérales” or between craftsmen and workers.
The Inserm’s survey (2011) notes the will of non-salaried people to maintain a balance between
the amount of work and the level of remuneration, even if it also observed for some salaried
people, such as sales representatives or traders. The independent worker feels responsible for
losses and gains. In 2005, 67.4 % of non-salaried people consider that their remuneration
depends on how they work, versus only 18.5 % of salaried people (source Survey Working
conditions 2005). The major psychosocial issues encountered by independent workers in
their everyday life are: - the tendency to work within large amplitudes of working hours; -
the difficulty to balance work and family ; the uncertainty on the monthly level of
revenue; the feeling of loneliness (no colleagues helping in case of difficulty).
According to the INSEE survey “Life history, construction of identities” (Histoire de vie,
construction des identités, 2003), 68% of the independent workers mention the profession as
one of the three elements allowing to define themselves (against 57 % for intermediate
professions and only 33 % for unskilled workers).
TRAJECTORIES - SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
According to the INSERM’s collective expertise about the health of self-employed workers
(2011), the level of education of the non-salaried is slightly above the level of employees, which
can be explained by the diploma requirements for “professions libérales” but also for craft
professions. Foreign workers are slightly more numerous among the non-salaried people (10.3%
against 8.2% for all workers), especially in the building sector, the hotel and catering industry and
the retail trade.
Franck Evain and Michel Amar (INSEE 2006) note that independent workers generally
began their working life as employees, with the exception of doctors and farmers. Therefore
they become entrepreneur around 32, after a decade of salaried work, aside from agricultural
workers and more generally those who take over the family business, becoming independent at an
earlier age.
Nathalie Colombier and David Masclet (2008) show the importance of family environment as
a decisive factor for independent work. More precisely, the likelihood to become independent
is positively linked with the fact that one or two parents are independent workers, while the
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intergenerational transmission concerns especially the same-sex parent. When it is not the case,
the level of formal education is an element that predisposes to an independent career. Other
studies show that having parents or a spouse who are independent workers themselves, helps to
acquire a sufficient start-up capital but also informal skills that lack people whose family
environment includes only salaried people.
According to the INSEE’s data, before creating their own business, 32 % of the auto-
entrepreneurs had a steady employment in the private sector, 30 % were unemployed (18 % for
less than a year and 12 % for more than a year). 11 % had no professional activity and 6% had a
precarious status in the private sector (interim, fixed-term contacts and casual workers). The rest
of them were civil servants, students or pensioners. Half of the auto-entrepreneurs created their
activity in a different sector than their core business. 60 % of the new auto-entrepreneurs in the
construction sector are former workers, while in the information and communication sector,
43 % are former executives and 24 % former technicians.
The creation of an auto-enterprise does not necessarily involve the withdrawal from a former
activity. It can be a complementary activity or a test, for people in work. More generally,
pluriactivity is a rather common phenomenon among independent workers: Frank Evain
(2009) estimates that around 300 000 persons perform at least two activities, one as employee and
one as independent worker. According to the latest figures (Dares, 2016), 200 000 non-salaried
people (7%) are involved in more than one activity.
To discover the incentives that push an individual to create his own activity, we can use the
Insee's survey SINE (système d'information sur les nouvelles entreprises).
Main reasons for starting one's own business in 2013 (CNIS, 2016, p. 43)
To be independent 61%
The desire to undertake a project and face new challenges 45%
The prospect of increasing one's revenues 27%
An opportunity for the creation of a company 23%
A new idea of product, service or market 14%
Succesfull examples of entrepreneurs in one's environment 9%
Without employment, choice to creat one's own company 18%
Without employment, necessity to create one's own company 4%
Only chance to practice one's profession 8%
Concerning the solo entrepreneurs, qualitative studies show the entanglement between pull and
push factors, between the desire of personal fulfilment and the necessity to find a solution while
facing an unwelcoming labour market (Bravo-Bouyssy, 2010)..
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SPECIFIC CATEGORIES OF INDEPENDENT WORKERS
Old versus new independent workers
The idea emerges that there would be a new category of independent workers, different from the
others in their socio-economic characteristics and motivations (D’Amours, 2006; Bureau and
Corsani, 2014; Célérier, 2015)
In France, according to the Employment surveys, we can observe in 2009 a steady decrease (2, 5
%) in the number of independent workers since 1990, but a growth (1.3 %) of non-regulated
“professions libérales” and very small consulting companies (Reynaud, 2009). In 2009, the
number of business creations was 75.1 % higher than in 2008, due exclusively to the auto-
entrepreneurs. Since the law “Modernisation of Economy” (2008), the auto-entrepreneurs are
presumed to be non-salaried workers.
These categories of “false” or “neo” independent workers would differ from the others by some
features that could make them more vulnerable to stress:
• Greater dependency on a client or a commercial chain
• A more constrained choice of the independent status (due to unemployment or to employers),
therefore less linked to a personal, making sense, project;
• Obligations imposed by the legal schemes (maximum turnover, no employee, concerning the
auto-entrepreneurs);
• Less experience or familial tradition of independence;
• Higher mortality rate of companies, due to lack of experience and capital, but also to the crisis
context in which the project bearers create their business;
• Lower regulatory protections (professions and unions) for new occupations whose collective
structures are not set up yet;
• Hybrid status between independence and salaried work, as in the case of umbrella companies or
franchisees.
Moreover these « neo » independent workers are often subjected to potentially stressful
forms of work, without the social support of the company, such as home teleworking (6 %
of the non-salaried people in 2004) or nomadic working (4%).
The « autonomous professionals »
According to Coquelin and Reynaud (2003), an autonomous professional is a person who offers
his expertise and professional skills to companies on the services market, in the form of a work
performance agreement which can be qualified as commercial contract or employment contract,
depending on the situation. Based on a qualitative survey, the authors distinguish three categories.
The first one includes workers for whom self-employment is almost the only way to find a job. In
the second category, the autonomous work allows the persons to pursue a career, beyond the
obstacles encountered in large organisations. The third category gathers people who consider that
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they exercise a free choice, defining themselves the content and the borders of their professional
activity. The combination of different status, different sources of revenues, is particularly
striking: part-time jobs, fees, unemployment compensations, reduced activities… He can
observe an « institutional tinkering » which is not only a transitional solution but an effective
support in the quest for autonomy and safety.
The overwhelming majority of the respondents have a very high qualification level, either by
the education level (Bac+5, “grande école”) or by the professional skills, sharp expertise or
experience, whatever their age. The setting up of their own activity is also a response to high
quality requirements: to control the conditions of their professional practice appears to them as
the only way to live according to their values and put them into action.
Despite the organisational problems encountered on the market in which they operate, the
autonomous professionals are mainly satisfied with their revenue. However their major aim is not
economical. They seek a freedom of action for which they are willing to adjust their way of life.
If the notion of I-Pros is not common in the French literature, the IPros seem to be very
similar to the “autonomous professionals”. Patricia Leighton (2013) estimates the growth rate of
I-Pros in France 2004-2013: 85%.
The study from France Stratégie (2017) confirms the change in independent work’s structure, for
the benefit of some professions : health care, art-culture and information trades.
The auto-entrepreneurs
Since the creation of their status, the auto-entrepreneurs are the target of statistical monitoring.
According to ACOSS (Agence Centrale des Organismes de Sécurité Sociale, 2016), at the end of
2015, the number of registered auto-entrepreneurs reaches 1 012 000, a mark slowdown
compared to last year (+ 4.2 % annual change against + 7.7 % at the end of 2014). 619 000
persons among them (61.2%) report positive revenues in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The global quarterly income is increasing at a robust pace (+ 10.4 %), while the average quarterly
income amount to 3 423 Euros at the last quarter of 2015.
Some sectors especially experience a dynamic expansion, such as transports (+ 38.3% auto-
entrepreneurs economically active within a year) or real estate activities (+ 17.6%).
The economically dependent autonomous workers (“Travailleurs indépendants
économiquement dépendants” TIED)
According to Antonmattei and Sciberas (2008), the economically dependent worker:
- belongs to the category of independent workers;
- performs alone his/her activity;
- receives at least 50% of his revenues from a sole contractor, within the framework of a
contractual relationship with a minimum duration of at least two months;
- provide services within a productive organisation that depends on his contractor’s activity.
The survey conducted within the TRADE project among 80 persons identified as TIED, reveals
an image of the French TIED: the French TIED is a man (56.3%) between 30 and 49,
highly educated (91.3% hold a master or a doctoral degree). His professional occupation
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is linked with ICT services, translation services or other expert services. The personal
decision to advance one’s career is the major reason to become an independent worker. The
second one is the opportunity for a better balance between family life and professional life. The
major challenge encountered by the TIED is the revenues’ uncertainty. They also have to deal
with administrative burdens. Three quarters of them consider that nobody takes care of their
situation.
The non-salaried people in the cultural sector (Gouyon, 2015)
At the end of 2011, 131 000 non-salaried workers contribute to artistic creation and distribution,
audiovisual and multimedia, architecture, amateur artistic education or advertising agencies. In
these sectors, more than a quarter of active workers are independent, which means more than
three times as much as in the whole active population. The non-salaried population is more
female-oriented, younger and more likely Parisian than the average. For a growing part, they are
auto-entrepreneurs, due to the success of this regime. The « traditional » independent workers
earned an average of 2 360 Euros nets per month from their non-salaried activity in 2011, but
this average hides great variations: a little more than 1 000 Euros in amateur artistic education
and visual arts, against 3 740 Euros in architecture. Among the “traditional” independent
workers, the women receive earnings 40 % below the average revenue of their male counterparts.
The non-salaried workers in the cultural sector, especially the auto-entrepreneurs, are likely to
combine independent and salaried work; in that case, they often perform an activity outside the
world of culture, and the major part of their activity’ revenue results from their salaried work
2. LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
There is no positive definition of independent workers or autonomous workers in the French
labour law. Independent workers are defined by what they are not: neither employees neither
agricultural workers.
THE SUBORDINATION TEST
Historically we can find two main justifications to the workers’ protection: economic dependency
and legal subordination. In France, case-law enshrined the second one since the 1930’s:
subordination, not economic dependency, is the major criterion to classify a work relationship as
a salaried one:
« La condition juridique d'un travailleur à l'égard de la personne pour laquelle il travaille ne saurait être
déterminée par la faiblesse ou la dépendance économique dudit travailleur et ne peut résulter que du contrat conclu
entre les parties ». « La qualité de salarié implique nécessairement l'existence d'un lien juridique de subordination
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du travailleur à la personne qui l'emploie (...), qui place ce travailleur » sous la direction, la surveillance et
l'autorité de son co contractant » (Civ., 6 juillet 1931, DP 1931, 1.121., note P. Pic.)
The qualification by the judge is based, not on the will expressed by both parties, but on the
effective working conditions. « l'existence d'une relation de travail salarié ne dépend ni de la volonté exprimée
par les parties ni de la dénomination qu'elles ont donnée à leur convention, mais des conditions de fait dans
lesquelles est exercée l'activité des travailleurs » (Soc. 17 avril 1991, Bull. 1991 V n° 200 p. 122).
The employee performs paid work while the employer has the authority to give orders, monitor
work’s implementation and sanction any failings.
Subordination means « l'exécution d'un travail sous l'autorité d'un employeur qui a le pouvoir de donner des
ordres et des directives, d'en contrôler l'exécution et de sanctionner les manquements de son subordonné » (Soc. 13
nov. 1996, Société générale, Bull. V., n°386).
Nevertheless, the legislator took into account the situation of economic dependence in several
specific cases.
Hence, the labour Code (Book 7) provides specific arrangements for several occupations like
artists, journalists, homeworkers, sales representatives, aso.
PRESUMPTION OF SALARIED STATUS AND SPECIFIC ARRANGEMENTS
- A specific status for household employment
Since 1957 homeworkers are deemed employees, without the need to investigate the
subordination relationship.
Article L7412-1 : Est travailleur à domicile toute personne qui 1° Exécute, moyennant une rémunération
forfaitaire, pour le compte d'un ou plusieurs établissements, un travail qui lui est confié soit directement, soit par un
intermédiaire ; 2° Travaille soit seule, soit avec son conjoint, partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité, concubin
ou avec ses enfants à charge au sens fixé par l'article L. 313-3 du code de la sécurité sociale, ou avec un auxiliaire.
Il n'y a pas lieu de rechercher a) S'il existe entre lui et le donneur d'ouvrage un lien de subordination juridique,
sous réserve de l'application des dispositions de l'article L. 8221-6 b) S'il travaille sous la surveillance immédiate
et habituelle du donneur d'ouvrage ;c) Si le local où il travaille et le matériel qu'il emploie, quelle qu'en soit
l'importance, lui appartient ; d) S'il se procure lui-même les fournitures accessoires e) Le nombre d'heures
accomplies.
Implementation of work: articles L7413-1 to L7413-4
Determining the work time: articles L7422-1 to L7422-3
Salary: articles L7422-4 to L7422-8
Disputes settlement procedures: articles L7423-1 to L7423-2
Health and safety at work: articles L7424-1 to L7424-3
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- A presumption of salaried status for several occupational activities:
Journalists: article L7112-1
Performing artists and models: article L7121-3
Sales representatives: articles L-731
Janitors and building caretakers: articles L-721.
The notion of ‘Intermittent performing art workers’ is specific to the French institutional social
system (Bureau et Corsani, 2016). This notion refers to an exception: according to the law, every
contract between an artist and an enterprise of the entertainment sector is presumed an
employment contract, even if it is proved that the artist carries out his activity in a way close to
independent work. Nevertheless it is an atypical employment contract: the fixed-term
employment contract ‘dit d'usage’ (CDDU) that can be working for a very short term (one day or
some hours) and then renewed repeatedly with the same employer without major constraints.
During the 1960’s, these almost independent workers have been incorporated into the waged
labour. Working with various employers, many entertainment workers conduct independent
projects in the gap between two employment contracts; they develop their projects within
associative structures which they created ad hoc (with persons close to them inside the
association's office) and where they are occasionally formally salaried (Corsani&Lazzarato, 2008).
In this case, their real status looks like that of entrepreneurs-employees: formally salaried but
effectively independent.
THE PRESUMPTION OF INDEPENDENT WORK
Since 1994 (Madelin law), and then 2003 (law for economic initiative), there is a presumption of
independent work for physical persons listed in the commercial register (Registre du commerce),
the craft/profession list (Répertoire des métiers) or other companies register.
In these cases nevertheless, the work relationship may be reclassified as an employment contract
if a relationship of subordination can be proved. As a result, there are many cases in contention,
especially in the situations of franchising, provision of services or sales agency.
Article L8221-6 Code trav. (Modifié par LOI n°2011-1906 du 21 décembre 2011)
I. - Sont présumés ne pas être liés avec le donneur d'ordre par un contrat de travail dans l'exécution de l'activité
donnant lieu à immatriculation ou inscription :1° Les personnes physiques immatriculées au registre du commerce
et des sociétés, au répertoire des métiers, au registre des agents commerciaux ou auprès des unions de recouvrement
des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d'allocations familiales pour le recouvrement des cotisations d'allocations
familiales ;2° Les personnes physiques inscrites au registre des entreprises de transport routier de personnes, qui
exercent une activité de transport scolaire prévu par l'article L. 213-11 du code de l'éducation ou de transport à la
demande conformément à l'article 29 de la loi n° 82- 1153 du 30 décembre 1982 d'orientation des transports
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intérieurs ; 3° Les dirigeants des personnes morales immatriculées au registre du commerce et des sociétés et leurs
salariés ;4° Les personnes physiques relevant de l'article L. 123-1-1 du code de commerce ou du V de l'article 19
de la loi n° 96-603 du 5 juillet 1996 relative au développement et à la promotion du commerce et de l'artisanat
(…)
Article L8221-6-1 (loi n°2008-776 du 4 août 2008) : Est présumé travailleur indépendant celui dont les
conditions de travail sont définies exclusivement par lui-même ou par le contrat les définissant avec son donneur
d'ordre. Code du travail, article L8221-6 (suite)
THE REGIME OF AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR (2008)
The regime introduced by the law of 4 August 2008 can be summarized as the right, for certain
independent workers, to benefit from simplified tax returns and social security contributions,
subject to a maximum turnover. The regime applies to natural persons who begin or are already
pursuing, whether as principal or complementary activity, an individual commercial, trade, or
professional activity (with the exception of certain activities). The system concerns independent
workers pursuing small-scale activities. In effect, in order to qualify for the auto-entrepreneur
regime, the individual business must fall under the micro-enterprise tax regime. In other words,
for 2010, turnover must not exceed: €80,300 for the sale of merchandise, goods, supplies, or pre-
prepared foodstuffs (to take away or be consumed on site), or for the provision of
accommodation; or, €32,100 for the provision of services categorized as business or professional
profit.
Within this limited framework, auto-entrepreneurs benefit from a simplified registration process
as well as a simplified method of calculating social security contributions and income tax.
Regarding the usual company obligations, auto-entrepreneurs benefit from:
- a simplified micro-enterprise regime ;
- an exemption from the obligation to register on the companies registry or the official
trades directory;
- a VAT exemption;
- and, optionally, a simplified micro-fiscal regime payment in full discharge of income tax
and exoneration from paying business rates for three years from the date of creation;
The relatively simple procedures for the creation and taxation of the auto-entrepreneur regime
are among those elements most often advanced as incentives for project bearers to register.
Source : Levratto et Serverin, 2011
http://economix.fr/docs/707/Levratto_Serverin_DT2011.pdf
Auto-entrepreneurs enjoy the same security coverage as the other independent workers and don’t
benefit from unemployment insurance in the event of a cessation of activity.
In 2014, the “Pinel Law” (2014) renamed the regime from auto-entrepreneur to micro-
entrepreneur, giving rise to protests (see below, the case study of Fedae).
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HYBRID STATUS, ASSIMILATED SALARIES AND OTHER PROTECTIONS
The French case is characterized by a long list of specific measures, partially extending the scope
of salaried work.
The self-employed managers of food retail branches (Labour Code, articles L7322): the
disputes between companies and self-employed managers fall within the scope of the commercial
courts if the matter concerns the commercial terms of branch operations, but they fall within the
scope of labour courts if the matter concerns the working conditions of self-employed
managers. Even though they are non salaried, these managers are also represented by the trade
unions in the sectoral collective bargaining.
Wage portage or “Portage salarial” in France with an umbrella company is a system which
allows a person to work as a freelancer for a client. The person works as an independent
contractor using the services of the Portage salarial company. S/He is relieved of administrative
burdens, such as invoicing and recovery of payments. Most important, the system allows the
person to benefit from the social welfare advantages of employee status.
Article L1251-64. Law of the 25th June 2008. Art. 8 (V)
Decree of the 21th April 2015: the « wage portage » concerns only skilled employees, with a high
level of autonomy.
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000030431093&dateTexte
=&categorieLien=id
The salaried entrepreneur (Hamon law, 2014)
“The term ‘salaried-entrepreneurs’ refers to a new group of workers, independent in their activity
but employed by a Business and Employment Cooperative (BEC). The BEC concept was
developed, firstly in France, in the middle of the 1990s, in the field of insertion through
economic activities. The main idea was to actively engage the unemployed towards small business
creation. The BEC concept was developed in the context of a structural crisis in the labour
market, whereas social policies stimulated unemployed and precarious people to become a ‘self-
entrepreneurial’ subject. Against this social philosophy, the BEC pioneered a new approach of
enterprise understood as a shared undertaking. A BEC is a multi-activity co-operative and its sales
are generated by the ‘independent activity’ of all ‘salaried-entrepreneurs’. Every ‘project bearer’
can demand to be supported by a BEC, and then he can develop his business project under the
wing of the BEC. The status of the ‘project bearers’ changes over time. In the first stage, the
project bearer can find him/herself in various situations (beneficiary of unemployment benefits
or social welfare, unemployed or part-time employee in another company) while working up his
idea and developing his project. In the second stage, when his/her independent activity begins to
generate a turnover, the ‘project bearer’ can benefit from the security of an employment contract.
S/He becomes a ‘salaried-entrepreneur’. The BEC issues an invoice to the salaried-entrepreneurs'
17
customers and pays a salary to the salaried-entrepreneur. But also, the BEC pays Social Security
contributions and taxes. The wage is indexed to the turnover realised by every salaried-
entrepreneur, who may choose how to declare working time. Finally, in the third stage, s/he may
be associated and become a ‘salaried-entrepreneur-member’, sharing in the ownership and
management of the co-operative.
« Art. L. 7331-2.-Est entrepreneur salarié d'une coopérative d'activité et d'emploi toute personne physique qui :
« 1° Crée et développe une activité économique en bénéficiant d'un accompagnement individualisé et de services
mutualisés mis en œuvre par la coopérative en vue d'en devenir associé ;
« 2° Conclut avec la coopérative un contrat, établi par écrit, comportant :
« a) Les objectifs à atteindre et les obligations d'activité minimale de l'entrepreneur salarié ;
« b) Les moyens mis en œuvre par la coopérative pour soutenir et contrôler son activité économique ;
« c) Les modalités de calcul de la contribution de l'entrepreneur salarié au financement des services mutualisés
mis en œuvre par la coopérative, dans les conditions prévues par les statuts de celle-ci ;
« d) Le montant de la part fixe et les modalités de calcul de la part variable de la rémunération de
l'entrepreneur salarié, en application de l'article L. 7332-3 ;
« e) La mention des statuts en vigueur de la coopérative ;
« f) Les conditions dans lesquelles sont garantis à l'entrepreneur salarié ses droits sur la clientèle qu'il a
apportée, créée et développée, ainsi que ses droits de propriété intellectuelle.
In order to include this situation in the Labour Code, the Hamon Law created a new contract, the
CESA (contrat d'entrepreneur-salarié associé).
The commercial code provides other specific protections for economically dependent
professionals like sales representatives, independent door-to-door vendors or representative
managers, for example a minimum guaranteed commission or a severance pay if the contract is
terminated (Articles L146-3 and L146-4 of the Commercial Code).
Moreover, there exist in France a lot of rules concerning the regulated professions (legal
professions, health professions, craft trades): full or partial monopoly, regulated tariffs, numerus
clausus, professional licenses, aso. According to the IGF report, among the 86 most profitable
activity sectors, 44 have more than one specific rule. Furthermore, the data analysis shows a
correlation between level of regulation and level of profitability. Since 1959, the justification of
these regulations is regularly put into question: Armand-Rueff (1959), Augier (1983), Attali
(2008), Darrois (2009). Recently, the Macron Law (2016) reformed several regulated professions,
expanding the freedom of establishment and lessening the regulation of tariffs.
In total, one can observe, in Labour Code and Commercial Code, numerous legislative ad hoc
measures, depending on negotiations and on the balances of power, which concern independent
workers and assimilated salaried.
18
RECENTLY LEGALISED OR REGULATED FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
Employers’ alliances
Created in the 1980’s, Employers’ Alliances (“Groupements d'employeurs”) are nonprofit
organizations set up by other enterprises. Their main aim is to hire employees and to make them
available to their members according to their needs. The employers’ Alliance establishes a
tripartite relationship: the Alliance is an employer de jure while its members are employers de facto.
The conditions for the creation of an employers’ Alliance have been eased by the Cherpion Law
(2011).
Labor Code: art. L. 1253-1 to L. 1253-23 and D. 1253-1 to R. 1253-44.
The sharing of employees or the subleasing of employees
The non-profit subleasing of employee sets up a tripartite relationship between the lending
company, the labour user and the worker. It requires the agreement of the employee involved.
No employee may be punished, dismissed or be the subject of discriminatory measures for
having refused an assignment proposal. The salaried worker signs an amendment to his
employment contract which specifies the work contracted by the labour user, the work time, the
place of performance of the work, the special features of the job.
The lending company and the labour user sign an agreement governing the provision of staff
which specifies the term of the contract, the qualification of the employee involved, as well as
the method for determining wages, social charges and work-related expanses.
Cherpion Law (art. 40), Labor Code art L 8241-2:
Article 40 de la loi du 28 juillet 2011 complétant l’article L 8241-2 du Code du travail
POORLY REGULATED NEW FORMS OF WORK
Nomadic working: poorly covered by collective bargaining
An inter-professional national agreement (19th July 2005) gives a broad definition of teleworking
that could include nomadic workers: “Telework is a form of organising and/or performing work,
using information technology, in the context of an employment contract/relationship, where
work, which could also be performed at the employers premises, is carried out away from those
premises on a regular basis”.
There are still few agreements on nomadic working. However this form of
organising/performing work is liable to develop and requires some specifications: its application
scope; the entry and exit conditions; the organization of working time; the training and career
management system; the protection of health and safety at work; the tools and equipment
required to perform the work; the preservation of privacy.
Job sharing: no specific legal rule
Code de champ modifié
Mis en forme : Français (Belgique)
19
Imported around 1994 by the HP Company, the job sharing is not widely used in France. From a
legal point of view, job sharing is similar as part-time work: two (or several) employees share a
full-time position. There is no specific legal rule in the French law.
The drift of the “CDD d'usage”
Created in 1982, the CDD “dit d’usage” (CDDU) is a specific short term contract, but without
time limitation, waiting time nor severance payment. It is allowed in about thirty economic
sectors, especially five of them: hotels and restaurants, recorded performances, human services,
performing arts, events creation. But this contract is now used in many other sectors. In 2015, the
IGAS (Inspection Générale des Affaires Sociales) published a very critical report about the drift
of this measure which concerns each year about 1,2 million salaried people.
Crowd workers: French hesitations
If the expression « uberisation of the workplace » is a success, the platforms and the forms of
work they generate are very diverse. As there is no status in France for economically dependent
workers, French judges have been tempted to classify situations of economic dependency as
employment contracts, by pretending they reveal a relationship of subordination (“Arrêt
Labanne”, Labanne judgment regarding taxis drivers, 2000). Nowadays the legislator hesitates
between fostering new forms of employment in a context of high unemployment and protecting
workers who often claim their own independence. At the moment, the legislator suppressed
activities like Uberpop, but he did it in the name of the competition law, and the Constitutional
Court had nothing to say about it (Cons. Constit. 22 sept. 2015 sur QPC).
http://ciera.hypotheses.org/843.
Nevertheless, the article 60 of the “Loi Travail” introduces in the Labour Code the principle of the
platforms' social responsibility, in order to take into account the specific situation of the “workers using an
online platform”. It creates three rights for these workers: the platform's payment of the insurance
contribution for the risk of accident in the working place, as well as the payment of the contribution for
professionnal training ; the right of concerted refusal to provide their services (i.e. a right to strike), without
incurring any penalty.
Coworking: a simple contract for services
Coworking is an alternative way of working: independent professionals and teleworkers share the
same work environment, instead of working in separate offices. If the coworkers’ community
claims common values, coworking is based legally on a simple contract of services with the
coworking space.
http://www.mutinerie.org/conditions-generales/#.V7NDG-RX5ls
20
3. PUBLIC POLICY TO SUPPORT NEW AUTONOMOUS WORKERS
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM
In France, the broadening of the social coverage was not achieved by the development of a
unique regime, but rather by juxtaposition of multiple different regimes. The family branch,
which provides in particular family allowances, is the sole branch with a feature of universality
and full national solidarity.
There are four different regimes: the general scheme (around 80% of French population)
which covers most of the employees as well as other categories of persons (students, recipients
of certain benefits, simple residents) who have been included into the general scheme in the
course of the years, and all residents in the case of family benefits; the agricultural scheme (5
millions) which includes all risks with two different administrative bodies for farmers and
employees of the agricultural sector, the schemes for the self-workers (non-salaried non-
agricultural workers: 3.5 millions), the special schemes (2.5 millions).
THE SITUATION OF THE SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS
After the strong opposition from the non-salaried professions to the 1946 Law on old age's
insurance, the social security scheme of the self-employed workers was built separately from the
general scheme. If the basic coverage is largely harmonised with it, significant differences remain,
concerning the contribution rates and the protections afforded. In particular, there is no
compulsory system that covers the risk of accident in the workplace or the risk of
unemployment.
The RSI (“Régime Social des Indépendants”) was founded in 2005, gathering several funds for
sickness and mandatory retirement insurance. But the system got a serious credibility problem, as
a consequence of failures after the computer crash in 2008. Even if the situation has improved,
self-workers’ trust has been damaged, as far as the dysfunction coincided with dues increases in a
harsh economic climate. Moreover, the old opposition of some independent workers to the
social security affiliation is taking new forms, provoking in 2015 several protest demonstrations
against the RSI. In 2017, E. Macron decided to suppress this regime, and to reintegrate it into the
General Regime (with a separate management) providing for a transitional period of two years.
Basic principles (MISSOC 2014)
Social protection for the self-employed is subject to separate regulations. Farmers come under the
agricultural system (MSA). Craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers fall within the scope of the
Social Protection Scheme for the Self-employed (RSI) while members of the “professions
libérales”: professions, are covered by separate schemes (CNAVPL).
21
However, professionals also come under the RSI insofar as sickness insurance is concerned. Most
of these schemes are complemented by compulsory supplementary systems governed by the
same funds.
Crafts, Commerce and Manufacturing, “Professions libérales”
The following self-employed and their collaborating spouses are compulsorily covered by these
schemes:
* managers of firms on the trades register as well as helping family members who take part in the
small-scale enterprise;
* persons practising an industrial and commercial activity involving signing up on the
Commercial Register or liability to professional tax as a retailer;
*persons practising a “profession libérale”
Financing
Sickness and maternity insurance:
Benefits in kind: 6.5% of the total professional income.
Sickness benefits in cash (daily allowances) for craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers: 0.7% within the limit of
€193,080.
Old-age insurance:
Basic system for crafts, commerce and manufacturing:
17.65% of the professional income within the annual limit of the social security ceiling (€38,616) and 0.50% for
income exceeding this ceiling. Compulsory supplementary scheme: 7% of professional income within the limit of
€37,546 and 8% between €37,546 and €154.464 for craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers. Specific contributions for
the “professions libérales”.
Invalidity and death insurance:
For craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers, 1.30% of professional income within the limit of the social security
ceiling. Specific contributions for the “professions libérales”.
Family allowances:
5.25% of the total professional income for retailers and craftsmen as well as for the liberal professions. Since January
2015, modulated contribution rates according to the income: 2.15% for incomes below 110% of the social security
ceiling (PASS), between 2.15% and 5.25% for incomes between 110% and 140% of the PASS, and 5.25% for
incomes above 140% of the PASS.
Craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers as well as the “professions libérales” are also subject to the CSG (7.5%) and
the CRDS (0.5%) on their professional income
Sickness and maternity: Benefits in kind
22
Craftsmen, retailers, manufacturers and “professions libérales” are covered by the same system of maternity-health
insurance (Social Scheme for self-employed – RSI). Benefits in kind for health insurance are in line with those of the
general system for the salaried
Within the framework of maternity insurance, women managers of firms have the right to a flat-rate contribution
allowance for maternity leave, with a maximum amount which is equal to the monthly amount of the social security
ceiling (€3,218) for birth and to half of that ceiling (€1,609) for adoption, which may be granted without condition
of ceasing activity; and to daily flat-rate benefits (income-tested) on condition that they cease all professional activity
for at least 44 consecutive days (14 days of which must immediately precede the expected date of confinement)The
amount of the daily flat-rate benefit is €2,327.60 for 44 days of leave, €3,121.10 for 59 days and €3,914.60 for 74
days. Since May 2015, the amounts are adjusted if the annual average income amount is less than €3,698. A flat-rate
benefit can also be paid for the father, during 11 consecutive days (or 18 days in case of multiple births), provided
that he stops all activity.
Maternity and paternity insurance cash benefits are paid to craftsmen, retailers, manufacturers and “professions
libérales”.
Long-term care
No specific insurance.
Invalidity
Invalidity Pension for craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers: The potential recipient must be invalid, be affiliated to
the scheme, be up to date in the payment of contributions, and not have reached the statutory retirement age for his
or her age cohort. The amount of invalidity pension is calculated as a percentage of the previous average annual
income: 50% or 30%, according to the invalidity degree.
If the beneficiary of the invalidity pension needs the assistance of a third party to carry out ordinary everyday
activities, a third-party surcharge for the yearly amount of €13,236.98 may be paid with the invalidity pension of
craftsmen as with that of retailers and manufacturers (right suspended in case of hospitalization).
Old-age
Except for the “professions libérales” which are under a specific scheme, the rules applied in the systems of
craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers are identical to those of the general system. Supplementary compulsory
pensions paid out in points exist in schemes for these professions.
Survivors
Except for the “professions libérales” which are under a specific scheme, the rules applied in the systems of
craftsmen, retailers and manufacturers are identical to those of the general system
Accidents at work and occupational diseases
Accidents at work and occupational diseases are refunded in the framework of the general sickness insurance under
the conditions applying there. Possibility to contribute voluntarily to the general system.
Family benefits
23
Craftsmen, like retailers, manufacturers and “professions libérales” receive family allowances from the general system
paid by the family benefit funds.
Unemployment
No unemployment insurance system exists for craftsmen, neither self-employed in commercial or industrial branches
nor liberal professions.
http://www.missoc.org/MISSOC//INFORMATIONBASE/COUNTRYSPECIFICDESCS/SELFEMPLOYED/2
016_01/FR-Self-01-16-EN.pdf
THE EXTENSION OF THE GENERAL SCHEME
We can observe a continuous extension of the general scheme, based on two criteria: economic
dependency and business creation.
The list of the famous article L. 311-3 of the French Social Security Code has been expanded
(see annex) including, on one hand, professionals for whom economic dependency is more
obvious than legal subordination, and on the other hand, company founders (support contract
for business setting up) :
As a result, there are a lot of situations where an autonomous professional (for example a
consultant) may arbitrate between different possibilities and decide which status is better for
carrying out his activities (Coquelin and Reynaud, 2003).
Although the legal status is very important, it is not sufficient to specify the tax status and social
status of the autonomous professional. If one can observe a move to harmonization of social
protection schemes, there is a persistent gap between the costs of contributions and the
coverages of social risks.
We can note the particular situation of the workers in the entertainment and audiovisual industry,
who benefit from a very specific unemployment insurance system (Régime des intermittents du
spectacle”), as a result of the occasional nature of their work (Bureau and Corsani, 2016). This
regime of social welfare allows limiting the living precariousness in a context of discontinuity of
labour relations: under certain conditions artists and entertainment workers receive
unemployment benefits every day off. At the end of 1970's, the reform of the social welfare
system (obtained by trade unions) started indeed a massive socialisation of resources: intermittent
performing arts workers could, by this way, achieve their own artistic projects and regain power
on their work choices, especially to make or not commitments, according to their judgment not
only about working conditions but also about quality of artistic and cultural production.
TAX INCENTIVES FOR NEW INDEPENDENT/AUTONOMOUS WORKERS
As reported by Leighton (2013, p. 104), tax arrangements were reformed under the law in favour of SMEs (2005), to encourage investment, hiring and inheritance of SME businesses. Most
24
recently, the 2010 law relating to sole proprietorship with limited liability created EIRL company structure. Financial supports include: • New support for the creation and enterprise buyout – aimed primarily at job seekers, the entrepreneur is technically assisted for three years, with a non-interest loan of up to €10,000 for 5 years. • Loan for business creation, secured by OSEO (SME business finance public agency) of €2,000 to €5,000 coupled with a conventional bank loan, designed for enterprises under 3 years old. • Support for job seekers creating or buying out a business (ACCRE) offers an exemption from social security contributions for one year up to 120% of minimum wage (€20,595). » Furthermore, the new independent/autonomous workers have a choice between an income tax (payable on sole ownership) and a corporate tax: at 15% up to €38,120 of profits and 33.33% above (or on all profits if turnover exceeds €7.63m). « VAT registration starts at €32,600 turnover; full accounting requirements are in force if turnover exceeds €234,000 (the VAT rate is 19.6%). Below the VAT registration threshold, it is considered a micro-enterprise and is VAT exempt. In a micro-enterprise in the service or non-commercial sectors, income tax is assessed on the basis of 66% of turnover, without consideration of expenses » (Leighton, 2013, p. 94)
KEY ELEMENTS OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL DEBATE
1990’s: flexicurity or professional social welfare?
Responding to concern about the deterioration of the work relationship, the Boissonnat report
« Le travail dans vingt ans » (1995) recommended the creation of an activity agreement (“contrat
d’activité”) : the worker would sign a contract, not with one but with several employers, including
for example an employment and training office ; he would alternate between periods of
employment and training periods, within a unique status guaranteeing the same social rights as a
traditional employment contract.
A few years years later, the Supiot report (1999) goes further: it underlines the need to define a
genuine general worker’s status, based on a set of rights attached to the individual and not to his
employment, therefore transferable from company to company, and from one professional
situation to another. The report promotes the institution of social drawing rights (working time
accounts, training accounts, aso.)
The theme of flexicurity spreads in France after the adoption, in the Netherlands, of the
« Flexibility and security act » (1999) which aims at providing a more flexible framework for
permanent contracts, with counterpart of more protections for temporary contracts. Denmark is
also considered in France as a reference with the “Golden Triangle” of Flexicurity.
A parallel stream of thinking started during the 90s in the EU and in France with the promotion
of « Transitional Labour Markets » (TLM). While the proposals of Boissonnat and Supiot were
mainly legal, the TLM proposals were mainly economic and focused on the way one can organize
25
smooth and secure « transitions » from one position in the labour market or around it to another
one (Schmid and Gazier (eds.) 2002 ; Gazier 2003). The TLM doctrine systematically focuses
on the integration problems of the low skilled or frail workers, giving a lot of attention to the
ways of combating precariousness among unemployed or redundant workers, or independent
workers. It insists on collective negociated agreements and proposes not only to « make people fit
for the market » but also to « make the market fit for the people ».
During the 1990’s begins a period of negotiation (Gaudu, 2008). From 1996 to 1998, a seminar
« post-Boissonnat » is organised regularly in the General Plan Commission. The social partners,
who were not represented in the Boissonnat working group, are invited to take part.
On the employers’ side, the CGPME (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes
entreprises) attends some meetings. On the labour unions’ side, the reactions are mixed: very
hostile reaction by FO (Force ouvrière), because the role of branches is put into question; cold
response from CFDT (Confédération française démocratique du travail), due to the method
which gives a central role to the State; very positive feedback from CGT. Jean-Christophe Le
Duigou, one of the trade union leaders, participates actively in most of the meetings. After the
1999 Congress, CGT opts for a Professional Social Security System based on a new Legal
Status of Wage Labor: law must help employees to move from an employment to a better one,
while rights must be transferable from company to company.
2000’s: debate is ongoing but neoliberal policies are intensifying.
The Cahuc-Kramarz report (2004) proposes a single employment contract, of unlimited
duration. It recommends suppressing the control of economic reasons for the layoff and the
obligation to offer an alternative job, while setting up layoff taxes. Present in the presidential
campaign (2007), the “single contract” vanished from the political agenda (opposition by social
partners).
The Antonmattei-Sciberras report (2008) promotes a specific status for economically
dependent self-employed and recommends a greater equality of treatment between salaried and
self-employed.
This status would provide guarantees against the risks of income loss and occupational accident,
as well as a set of basic labour rights: right to equality of treatment, right to strike, right to
collective bargaining. It would include rules on professional training, remuneration, conclusion
and termination of contract, health and safety at work, minimum rest periods.
The report is based on the article 28 of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European
Union (Charte des droits fondamentaux de l’Union européenne), in order to consider the
recognition of a right to collective action for all independent workers in a situation of
“parasubordination”. This recognition requires a specific legal organisation for maintaining the
commercial contract in the event of an economically dependent worker’s strike.
This recommendation has not been implemented.
26
The status of auto-entrepreneur, created in 2008, is very successful in quantitative terms, but
highly controversial: it is denounced as disguised employment or underemployment individual
management: Levratto and Serverin, 2009, Abdelnour, 2013, 2014. Though addressing a limited
number of workers, the experience of BEC (Business employment cooperatives) can be seen
as an alternative to this status (Bureau and Corsani, 2015) because BEC are inventing a new form
of shared enterprise.
As regards the social professional security, progresses have remained limited: working time
account (1994), support contract for business setting up (2005), leave for mobility (2013), training
account (2015), different possibilities of contract suspension with reinstatement, aso.
A debate re-launched by the issue of digital media
The issue of digital labor, the awareness of digital transformation with its consequences on labour
market, re-launches the debate. Two reports are published in 2015, within a short period of time:
the Mettling report « Transformation numérique et vie au travail » (Digital transformation and
life at work) and the France Strategie's report « Le Compte personnel d’activité (CPA) : de
l’utopie au concret » ( the personal activity account : from utopia to concrete practices).
In the roadmap of the 19th October 2015 Social Conference, the CPA is explicitly specified as a
decisive step towards security in transition: “Our social system, which guarantees a high level of
solidarity, has not been designed for the today’s career paths, the needs of mobility and
development of skills. Several recent laws, often stemming from national inter-professional
agreements, allowed significant progress in terms of portability: the personal training account
and the personal account for the prevention of hard work conditionsare fully transferable within
the private sector; mechanisms of partial portability have been created for the supplementary
health and accident coverage as well as the rechargeable rights to unemployment insurance, aso.
Nevertheless, disruptions remain, especially with the status changes between private sector, public
sector and independent work. The creation of CPA offers the opportunity to reach a new stage
in the continuity and the personalization of social rights. The CPA aims at becoming the key
instrument for securing professional career paths and to simplify everyone’s access to social
rights. It may also help achieve a better balance between professional and personal life, especially
in case of family events, such as a child’s disease or a parent’s dependency. “
For its part, the Mettling report lays out recommendations in order to “Reintegrate the new
forms of work inside our social protection scheme”. The report states that the digital technology
increases the number of freelancers and the porosity between salaried activity and other forms of
work. It demonstrates the need for a set of rights attached to the person and transferable from a
company to another, from a status to another. The new forms of work must also contribute to
the financing of social protection. This evolution would provide multiple benefits.
. for the employers : to avoid illegal subcontracting and reduce problems caused by the gaps
between different collective agreements.;
27
. for the employees and the self-employed : to foster the evolution and the security in transition,
including periods outside an employment relationship.
The recommendation n° 16 in Mettling report concerns the collaborative economy and the
regulation of work performed by platforms’ users: in cases where this activity constitutes a
significant source of income, the report argues for similar obligations in terms of contributions
and taxes. This means that service platforms would have to declare all the required information.
The recommendation n°17 proposes to update the jurisprudence concerning the classification as
a salaried worker, by introducing a wider range of criteria, such as the level of autonomy at work,
the exclusivity of services, the decision-making of remuneration, aso.
Furthermore, the report underlines the significant increase in creations of SCOP (workers
cooperatives) and SCIC (collective interest cooperative companies), even if their number remain
limited. This evolution can be seen as a sign of an increasing willingness to be both employee and
involved in the company’s management.
As a consequence, in 2016, the highly controversial El Khomri Law creates the CPA. The law
brings, besides de-regulating measures aiming at lowering the cost of salaried employees, a first
policy answer to the development of platform jobs: beyond an earnings threshold they will be
liable to social contribution payments.
Different options
In 2016, France Stratégie publishes a new report « Nouvelles formes de travail et de la protection
des actifs » (New forms of work and workforce’s protection). It stresses the new risks to consider
(fluctuation in revenues for independent workers, accidents and disease for freelancers and
nomadic workers) and exposes the different options for a new social protection scheme:
Options Problems
To maintain the distinction between employment
and independent work, while broadening the
scope of salaried work and improving transition
security
Which limits to the broadening?
How to finance the extension of
unemployment insurance?
Which distinction between professionals and
amateurs?
To create a third status for economically
dependent self-employed
How to specify the thresholds for economic
dependency and avoid the threshold effects?
Which contribution of the contractors?
Which consequences for other workers?
To go beyond the distinction between employment
and independent work, while establishing a unique
worker’s status
How to specify the different stages of
protection?
Which perimeter of professional activity?
Which level of universal protection?
Mis en forme : Français (Belgique)
28
The debate was relaunched after the election of E. Macron. The CESE (Conseil économique,
social et environnemental) recommends (2017): to develop the social dialogue between public
authorities, social partners and representative bodies of self-employed; to promote the
responsibility of third parties (platforms and BEC’ social responsibility, extension of the status
of “entrepreneur-salarié” aso.); to secure the social rights of the new independent workers,
especially allowing workers on digital platforms to benefit from the unemployment insurance in
case of total revenue loss. The IGAS (2017) discusses further the question of the scope of the
unemployment insurance scheme and proposes various scenarios, depending on the main goal:
Main goal Definition of the risk Relevant population
To protect the independent
workers against the risk of
company failure
Involuntary cessation of
activity
All independent workers
affected by the risk of
termination
To address the problem of
economic dependency
Substantial loss, even
temporary, of the revenue
Economically dependent self-
employed
To achieve universal access to
protection against
unemployment
Every cessation of activity All independent workers,
especially in the sectors with
low entry and exit barriers
Source: Igas, 2017
4. COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATION AND SOCIAL DIALOGUE
Using the grid proposed by Martine D’Amours (2010), we can provide the following table
indicating different forms of independent workers’ collective representation in France:
Operating
logics
Examples Worker’s
identity
Aims and claims
Business logic
UPA (Professional
Union of Craftspeople)
UAE, FEDAE
(Federations of auto-
entrepreneurs)
SDI (Union of
independent
entrepreneurs)
Proximity
entrepreneur
Auto-
entrepreneur
Very small
business
Defense of a proximity
economy.
Defense of the simplified self-
employment regime and
professionalisation approach.
Defense of the small
businesses’ interests.
29
Union logic
(traditional or
expanded)
SNAPAC-CFDT
(National Union of
Artists, professionals of
animation, sport and
culture)
CGT Spectacles
SNPEF-CGT
CCF (deliverers of Ile
de France )
CAPA-VTC (drivers’
association)
CIP (Coordination of
Intermittent and
Precarious Workers)
Autonomous
professional
Worker in the
performing arts
Disguised
employee
Disguised
employee
Driver VTC
Intermittent
Worker
Collective guarantees for
professionals, whether
employees or independent
Defense of the specific regime
for workers in the performing
arts
Reclassification as an
employment contract
Reclassification as an
employment contract
Defense of drivers against
Uber and public authorities
Defense of new social rights
for intermittents and
precarious workers
Pooling of
resources and
mutual aid
CAE, Bigre !
Smart
Les Incorrigibles
GESCOP
Salaried-
Entrepreneur
Salaried
autonomous
worker
Information
professional
Taxi driver
Access to social rights beyond
legal subordination, promotion
of cooperative project
Services to autonomous
workers and promotion of
collective entrepreneurship
Sharing and mutual aid
between information
professionals
Balance between the
craftsman’s independency and
the employee’s social coverage
Professional
SYFCI (Union of
Autonomous
Promotion and defense of the
30
independent consultant-
trainer)
professional
profession
The law organises the collective bargaining for some categories of independent workers who
perform their activity under economic dependency, particularly the assimilated employees
specified in Book 7 of the Labour Law (for example, the general insurance agents). In
professional markets, regulation is ensured by organisations focused on a specific trade.
Otherwise, independent workers remain poorly represented. According to the TRADE survey
(2001) about the situation of economically dependent workers (TIED), 74,7% of the
respondents consider that nobody takes care of their situation, 20% feel they are represented by
professional associations, 2, 7% by unions and 2, 7% by employers’ associations.
Concerning the trade unions, we can note a few initiatives which aim to consider independent
workers. In 2000, the union of executives CFDT-Cadres (UCC) created a working group
“Autonomous Professional”, in order to defend these professionals regardless of their legal
status. The UCC clearly raises the issue: is the union intended to represent workers on the
margins of salaried status ? Or isn't it a slippery slope? After discussion, the unionists refused to
close the door to non-salaried people (CFDT, 2001). On the website of the SNAPAC-CFDT, we
can read today that the union gathers professionals, employees in the private sector or non-
salaried persons (authors, creators, plastic artists and autonomous professionals under specific
rights, such as copyright or related rights, intellectual property code), in the fields of
entertainment, culture, animation and sport. In 2016, the CFDT-F3C (Culture, Consulting,
Communication) organised a barcamp in a co-working space in Paris, in order to imagine a new
form of union, adapted to the needs of workers in the digital economy. Then they launched the
platform Union (see below, part II).
For their part, some federations of the CGT, such as the union SNPEF-CGT (education and
training staff in the private sector), facing the dramatic increase of auto-entrepreneurs in its
sector, decided to provide them support in a process of requalification of their contract (see
below, part II).
The active role of a recent organization can be mentioned: the network “Sharers and Workers”,
which has been created in 2015 in France. The founders are two research institutions: l'IRES
(Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) financed by the French Unions and ASTREES
(an independent think tank). The network includes actors from the French social dialogue sphere,
from research and from the collaborative and numeric economy: IRES, ASTREES, CAP
DIGITAL, the FING, OUISHARE, the “Institut de l'Iconomie”, the Peer to Peer Foundation.
Other members come from other countries. The aim of the network is a contribution to a
general reflection of researchers, unionists and experts, on the entrepreneurial models of the
collaborative economy and on the transformations of labour that are induced by its development.
The network is since 2016 acquiring an international dimension and is discussing collaborations
with the Austrian Arbeiterkammer. http://sharersandworkers.net/
31
Conclusion
We observe in France the development of new forms of autonomous work and new forms of
pluriactivity combining different status, concerning mostly highly educated people. Nowadays
these forms of work are poorly regulated. As the legal distinction between salaried work and
independent work is founded in France on the subordination relationship, there are nevertheless
a wide range of situations that deviate from this rule: for example, part of the executives has
been integrated in the scope of salaried work, whereas some workers undergo both
subordination and lack of social rights. There is in France an ongoing debate about the opening
of the unemployment insurance scheme to the benefit of independent workers. But whether the
new independent workers had no other way to find a job or they chose to take control on their
professional life, they are under-represented at this time. Different ways of collective action are
emerging to deal with this situation: the CGT aims to support the people who works for digital
platforms for reclassifying their contract, or at least obtaining better prices and better work
conditions, whereas the CFDT offers tools and services via a new platform ; the federation of
autoentrepreneurs aims to the renewal of independent work while improving the social
protection of the independent workers ; some associations defend a non-regulated profession,
regardless to the legal status of their members; finally, some cooperative structures promote
mutual aid and pooling of resources between different autonomous professionals. We will
explore these different ways in part II.
32
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Annex: List of “assimilated salaried”
Sont notamment compris parmi les personnes auxquelles s'impose l'obligation prévue à l'article L. 311-2, même s'ils
ne sont pas occupés dans l'établissement de l'employeur ou du chef d'entreprise, même s'ils possèdent tout ou partie
de l'outillage nécessaire à leur travail et même s'ils sont rétribués en totalité ou en partie à l'aide de pourboires :
1° les travailleurs à domicile soumis aux dispositions des articles L. 721-1 et suivants du code du travail ;
2° les voyageurs et représentants de commerce soumis aux dispositions des articles L. 751-1 et suivants du code du
travail ;
3° les employés d'hôtels, cafés et restaurants ;
4° sans préjudice des dispositions du 5°) du présent article réglant la situation des sous-agents d'assurances, les
mandataires non assujettis à la contribution économique territoriale mentionnés au 4° de l'article R. 511-2 du code
des assurances rémunérés à la commission, qui effectuent d'une façon habituelle et suivie des opérations de
présentation d'assurances pour une ou plusieurs entreprises d'assurances telles que définies par l'article L. 310-1 du
code des assurances et qui ont tiré de ces opérations plus de la moitié de leurs ressources de l'année précédente ;
5° les sous-agents d'assurances travaillant d'une façon habituelle et suivie pour un ou plusieurs agents généraux et à
qui il est imposé, en plus de la prospection de la clientèle, des tâches sédentaires au siège de l'agence ;
6° les gérants non-salariés des coopératives et les gérants de dépôts de sociétés à succursales multiples ou d'autres
établissements commerciaux ou industriels ;
7° les conducteurs de voitures publiques dont l'exploitation est assujettie à des tarifs de transport fixés par l'autorité
publique, lorsque ces conducteurs ne sont pas propriétaires de leur voiture ;
8° les porteurs de bagages occupés dans les gares s'ils sont liés, à cet effet, par un contrat avec l'exploitation ou avec
un concessionnaire ;
9° les ouvreuses de théâtres, cinémas, et autres établissements de spectacles, ainsi que les employés qui sont dans les
mêmes établissements chargés de la tenue des vestiaires et qui vendent aux spectateurs des objets de nature diverse ;
10° les personnes assurant habituellement à leur domicile, moyennant rémunération, la garde et l'entretien d'enfants
qui leur sont confiés par les parents, une administration ou une oeuvre au contrôle desquels elles sont soumises ;
11° Les gérants de sociétés à responsabilité limitée et de sociétés d'exercice libéral à responsabilité limitée à condition
que lesdits gérants ne possèdent pas ensemble plus de la moitié du capital social, étant entendu que les parts
appartenant, en toute propriété ou en usufruit, au conjoint, au partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité et aux
enfants mineurs non émancipés d'un gérant sont considérées comme possédées par ce dernier ;
12° Les présidents du conseil d'administration, les directeurs généraux et les directeurs généraux délégués des
sociétés anonymes et des sociétés d'exercice libéral à forme anonyme et les directeurs généraux et les directeurs
généraux délégués des institutions de prévoyance, des unions d'institutions de prévoyance et des sociétés de groupe
assurantiel de protection sociale ;
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13° les membres des sociétés coopératives de production ainsi que les gérants, les directeurs généraux, les présidents
du conseil d'administration et les membres du directoire des mêmes coopératives lorsqu'ils perçoivent une
rémunération au titre de leurs fonctions et qu'ils n'occupent pas d'emploi salarié dans la même société ;
14° les délégués à la sécurité des ouvriers des carrières exerçant leurs fonctions dans des entreprises ne relevant pas
du régime spécial de la sécurité sociale dans les mines, les obligations de l'employeur étant, en ce qui les concerne,
assumées par le ou les exploitants intéressés ;
15° les artistes du spectacle et les mannequins auxquels sont reconnues applicables les dispositions des articles L.
762-1 et suivants, L. 763-1 et L. 763-2 du code du travail.
Les obligations de l'employeur sont assumées à l'égard des artistes du spectacle et des mannequins mentionnés à
l'alinéa précédent, par les entreprises, établissements, services, associations, groupements ou personnes qui font appel
à eux, même de façon occasionnelle ;
16° les journalistes professionnels et assimilés, au sens des articles L. 761-1 et L. 761-2 du code du travail, dont les
fournitures d'articles, d'informations, de reportages, de dessins ou de photographies à une agence de presse ou à une
entreprise de presse quotidienne ou périodique, sont réglées à la pige, quelle que soit la nature du lien juridique qui
les unit à cette agence ou entreprise ;
17° Les personnes agréées qui accueillent des personnes âgées ou handicapées adultes et qui ont passé avec celles-ci à
cet effet un contrat conforme aux dispositions de l'article L. 442-1 du code de l'action sociale et des familles ;
18° Les vendeurs-colporteurs de presse et porteurs de presse, visés aux paragraphes I et II de l'article 22 de la loi n°
91-1 du 3 janvier 1991 tendant au développement de l'emploi par la formation dans les entreprises, l'aide à l'insertion
sociale et professionnelle et l'aménagement du temps de travail, pour l'application du troisième plan pour l'emploi,
non immatriculés au registre du commerce ou au registre des métiers ;
19° Les avocats salariés, sauf pour les risques gérés par la Caisse nationale des barreaux français visée à l'article L.
723-1 à l'exception des risques invalidité-décès ;
20° Les vendeurs à domicile visés à l'article L. 135-1 du code de commerce, non immatriculés au registre du
commerce ou au registre spécial des agents commerciaux ;
21° Les personnes qui contribuent à l'exécution d'une mission de service public à caractère administratif pour le
compte d'une personne publique ou privée, lorsque cette activité revêt un caractère occasionnel.
Un décret précise les sommes, les activités et les employeurs entrant dans le champ d'application du présent 21°. Il
fixe les conditions dans lesquelles, lorsque la participation à la mission de service public constitue le prolongement
d'une activité salariée, les sommes versées en rétribution de la participation à cette mission peuvent, en accord avec
l'ensemble des parties, être versées à l'employeur habituel pour le compte duquel est exercée l'activité salariée, quand
ce dernier maintient en tout ou partie la rémunération.
Il fixe également les conditions dans lesquelles les deux premiers alinéas du présent 21° ne sont pas applicables, sur
leur demande, aux personnes participant à la mission de service public qui font partie des professions mentionnées à
l'article L. 621-3. Dans ce cas, les sommes versées en rétribution de l'activité occasionnelle sont assujetties dans les
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mêmes conditions, selon les mêmes modalités et sous les mêmes garanties que le revenu d'activité non salarié, défini
à l'article L. 131-6 du présent code, ou les revenus professionnels, définis à l'article L. 731-14 du code rural et de la
pêche maritime, que ces personnes tirent de leur profession.
22° Les dirigeants des associations remplissant les conditions prévues au deuxième alinéa du d du 1° du 7 de l'article
261 du code général des impôts ;
23° Les présidents et dirigeants des sociétés par actions simplifiées et des sociétés d'exercice libéral par actions
simplifiées ;
24° Les administrateurs des groupements mutualistes qui perçoivent une indemnité de fonction et qui ne relèvent
pas, à titre obligatoire, d'un régime de sécurité sociale ;
25° Les personnes bénéficiaires d'un appui à la création ou à la reprise d'une activité économique dans les conditions
définies par l'article L. 127-1 du code de commerce ;
26° Les personnes mentionnées au 2° de l'article L. 781-1 du code du travail ;
27° Les fonctionnaires et agents publics autorisés à faire des expertises ou à donner des consultations au titre du
décret du 29 octobre 1936 relatif aux cumuls de retraites, de rémunérations et de fonctions, dans le cadre d'activités
de recherche et d'innovation, ainsi que ceux qui sont autorisés à apporter leur concours scientifique à une entreprise
qui assure la valorisation de leurs travaux au titre de l'article L. 531-8 du code de la recherche. Toutefois, ces
dispositions ne sont pas applicables, sur leur demande, aux personnes inscrites auprès des unions de recouvrement
des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d'allocations familiales en qualité de travailleurs indépendants lorsque l'existence
d'un lien de subordination avec le donneur d'ouvrage ne peut être établi ;
28° Les personnes ayant souscrit un service civique dans les conditions prévues au chapitre II du titre Ier bis du livre
Ier du code du service national ;
29° Les arbitres et juges, mentionnés à l'article L. 223-1 du code du sport, au titre de leur activité d'arbitre ou de juge
;
30° Les présidents des sociétés coopératives de banque, mentionnées aux articles L. 512-61 à L. 512-67 du code
monétaire et financier ;
31° Les salariés au titre des sommes ou avantages mentionnés au premier alinéa de l'article L. 242-1-4 ;
32° Les entrepreneurs salariés et les entrepreneurs salariés associés mentionnés aux articles L. 7331-2 et L. 7331-3 du
code du travail.
34° Les gens de mer salariés employés à bord d'un navire mentionné aux 1° à 3° de l'article L. 5561-1 du code des
transports, sous réserve qu'ils ne soient soumis ni au régime spécial de sécurité sociale des marins ni au régime de
protection sociale d'un Etat membre de l'Union européenne ou d'un Etat partie à l'accord sur l'Espace économique
européen autre que la France.
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Code de champ modifié
Mis en forme : Français (Belgique)
Mis en forme : Français (Belgique)
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PART II. COUNTRY CASE STUDIES
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The choice of the case studies
On the basis of the common recommendations, but also considering the results mentioned in
part I, we have chosen the following organisations for our case studies:
1. the Fedae (fédération des autoentrepreneurs), quasi-union targeting the
autoentrepreneurs and more generally the independent workers. Our case study is based
on an interview with Grégoire Leclerc, the Fedae's founder, as well as the analysis of
various documents.
2. Coopaname, a business employment cooperative (BEC) created in 2003, one of the
BEC movement's leaders. Our case study is based on a collective interview with two
former directors and two current executives of Cooapaname, but also on the results of a
long term action research (several focus groups, qualitative interviews, a quantitative
survey, aso.)
3. the AFD (Alliance française des designers), professional association of designers,
involved in the support and the collective representation of designers whatever their
status (the vast majority of them are independent). Our case study is based on an
interview with Christophe Lemaire, an active member of the AFD, as well as the analysis
of documents.
4. The completely different initiatives promoted by the two trade unions, the CGT and
the CFDT, in order to support independent workers :
- unions founded by some federations of the CGT, in order to support independent workers
vis-à-vis the online platforms.
- the platform Union created by the federation F3C (Communication conseil Culture) of the
CFDT, providing useful services and tools for independent workers.
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FEDAE (Fédération des auto-entrepreneurs)
1. Description of the organisation
• Origin: the FEDAE was created in March 2009 by Grégoire Leclercq. It is a spontaneous
process: after graduation (Saint-Cyr), Grégoire Leclercq was gendarme officer but he suffered a
severe injury and decided to leave the gendarmerie and integrate HEC. At the same time, he
became one of the first auto-entrepreneur. He noticed that it was very difficult to find
information and help about the new regime of auto-entrepreneurs and therefore created a
platform, in order to collect and propose all the useful information. Thanks to this service, the
platform expanded rapidly.
• Independence: the Fedae is not affiliated to Unions or to Enterprises Associations.
• Geographical dimension: national. There are several departmental delegations. A regional
delegation (Bretagne) chose to become independent under the AEIB name (auto-entrepreneurs
et indépendants de Bretagne)
• Organizational structure and governance: the Fedae is an association with seven volunteers
(members of the executive boards) and several delegations. The board of directors is elected for
two years.
• Organizational forms: the Fedae has two employees.
2. Members
• Kind of independent workers represented: auto-entrepreneurs from various sectors and
more generally independent workers
• Members’ recruitment:
There are about 80 000 members. You have to pay 50 euros to become a member and 124 euros
to benefit from the legal protection, in addition to the other services. According to Grégoire
Leclercq, the major reason why workers join the federation is the access to information and
services.
3. Collective representation and strategies
• Strategies of collective representation
The first purpose of the association is to provide services, but the Fedae is very active in
advocacy for auto-entrepreneurs and also for all independent workers. It frequently intervenes in
the political debate and recently published a practical guide geared towards the candidates for the
presidential election: “For a renewal of the independent work” (see below).
• Strategies of mobilization and involvement:
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The Fedae proposes various services:
- useful administrative documents and practical worksheets
- a legal assistance (hotline)
- individual appointments (50 euros an hour)
- classified ads in order to find new customers
- a professional insurance whose fees have been negotiated with a partner (Assurei.fr)
- a training offer, adapted to the auto-entrepreneurs’ needs (Fedae academy)
- special rates for communication and management tools
- information about the funding opportunities.
The Fedae communicates to its members via the website, but also via the “cafés de l’auto-
entrepreneur” organized regularly in some places (two hours to catch up on news about the
status, exchange views and develop one’s network).
Regarding its political action, the Fedae is frequently present in the media:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCixVkJ0Blx1WMOOFGZsN6ig
• Political role
Since its creation, the Fedae is politically active. It is being heard through several ways, such as
petitions, “White papers” (proposals of measures to be adopted), press releases, contributions in
Parliament’s work and meetings with ministers.
In 2009, the federation organised a petition, with the aim of facilitating the civil servants’ access
to the status.
In 2010 and 2011, the Fedae defends the regime against various attacks (for the trade unions, it is
a threat to the labour law; for the craftsmen, it is a case of unfair competition).
In 2013, the Fedae fights against the Sylvia Pinel’s reform, especially regarding the regime’s
limitation in time. It contributes in the Commission Grandguillaume about the simplification of
the legal, social, fiscal regimes for individual contractors.
In 2014, the Fedae supports the APCE (Agence pour la creation d’entreprises) whose future is
threatened.
In 2015, the Fedae launches the operation “I am a little stone” (je suis un caillou) and sends an
open letter to Nicolas Sarkozy who described the autoentrepreneurs as “stones in his shoe”. It
founds “l’Observatoire de l’Ubérisation”, in order to improve the social protection of the digital
platforms’ workers. It contributes in the Barbaroux Report which aims to simplify the
autoentrepeneur regime.
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In 2016, Grégoire Leclercq meets Myriam El Khomry, minister of Labor, Employment Training
and Social dialogue, about the article of the “Loi Travail”, creating new rights for
autoentrepreneurs working for digital platforms.
The “Observatoire de l’Ubérisation” has also been requested by Jacques Rapoport regarding the
mediation between Uber and the VTC.
Coalitions
In order to carry out its mission, the Fedae has developed several partnerships with:
- AFE (Agence France Entrepreneur) : exchange of ideas and information
- Pôle Emploi (French governmental agency which operates as an employment center) :
co-organisation of workshops about the business creation and the autoentrepreneur
regime
- CIPAV (Caisse interprofessionnelle de prévoyance et d’assurance) : the Fedae is
member of the commission auto/micro-entrepreneurs in the CIPAV.
- ACOSS / URSSAF (public agencies centralizing the collection of social contributions
and ensuring their redistribution): information campaign about the bogus self-
employment and the requalification criteria
- RSI ( Régime Social des Indépendants) : exchange of ideas, informations, statistics
- CSOEC : Conseil Supérieur de l'Ordre des Experts Comptables, (initiative "Business
Story, you have an appointment with a public accountant ».
- Chambre nationale des professions libérales (Union of liberal professions)
- Syndicat national des kinésiologues (Union of kinesiologists).
Regarding the trade unions, the Fedae criticizes them for their silence in the negotiation of the
digital platforms’ social responsibility (loi Travail).
4. Results and future perspectives
• Results
The Fedae has contributed to the maintenance of the autoentrepreneur regime against various
attacks, and to several sections of law, such as the article 60 in the “Loi Travail” (social
responsibility of the digital platforms).
• Future perspectives
The guide directed at the candidates for the presidential elections proposes 17 measures: some of
them aim to simplify the creation process and the everyday life but the others concern the social
protection and the relationship between contractors and principals.
For example, the guide proposes to:
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- review the rules for calculating the daily allowances in case of maternity leave (since
2014, these allowances have been reduced to the minimum for independent workers with
low incomes);
- open up the access to daily allowances in case of illness or accident for all the
independent workers, even if they are registered as liberal professionals;
- open up the access to all the social benefits paid by the CAF;
- create a special fund of economic support in the event of hardship (loss of a large
customer, market decrease). The guide specifies that the Freelancer Union in USA has set
up a model where only the principals finance the fund;
- specify the conditions of requalification in employment contract and extend the social
responsibility of digital platforms: to implement the article 60 of the “Loi Travail” and
extend it to other fields on a voluntary basis (purchasing bodies, mutual insurances aso.)
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Coopaname
1. Description of the organisation
• Origin:
Coopaname was founded in 2003, as a way to establish a Business and Employment Cooperative
(BEC) in the Paris area.
The BEC concept was developed by social workers in the middle of the 1990s, in the field of
insertion through economic measures. It emanated from women activists who developed a
critical reflection towards the philosophy of social policies to strike poverty and social exclusion.
They were looking for innovative solutions inspired by self-governing socialism theory. Hence the
BEC concept was developed in the context of a structural crisis in the labour market, whereas
social policies stimulated unemployed and precarious people to become a ‘self-entrepreneurial’
subject. Against this social philosophy, the BEC pioneered a new approach of enterprise
understood as a shared undertaking.
A BEC is a multi-activity co-operative and its sales are generated by the ‘independent activity’ of
all ‘salaried-entrepreneurs’. Every ‘project bearer’ can ask to be supported by a BEC, and then he
can develop his business project under the wing of the BEC. The status of the ‘project bearers’
changes over time. In the first stage, the one of the overview of the social and professional
situation, the project bearer can find himself in various situations (beneficiary of unemployment
benefits or social welfare, unemployed or part-time employee in another company). In the second
stage, that is when independent activity begins to generate a turnover, the ‘project bearer’ can
benefit from the security of an employment contract. He becomes a ‘salaried-entrepreneur’. The
BEC issues an invoice to the salaried-entrepreneurs' customers and pays a salary to the salaried-
entrepreneur. But also, the BEC pays Social Security contributions and taxes. The wage is indexed
to the turnover realised by every salaried-entrepreneur, who may choose how to declare working
time. Finally, in the third stage, he may be associated and become a ‘salaried-entrepreneur-
member’, sharing in the ownership and management of the co-operative. He can also choose to
leave the cooperative structure to create his own enterprise, but this option is very rare. By this
atypical shape of working relationship, the salaried-entrepreneur can benefit from social
insurance while enjoying autonomy in his activity.
In 2014, the Hamon Law created a new type of contract in the Labor Law, the CESA, which was
especially designed for the ‘salaried-entrepreneurs’ of the BECs.
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• Independence:
Each BEC is independent but linked to other BEC by interdependent relationships. Furthermore,
Coopaname is affiliated to the network “Coopérer pour entreprendre”, one of the two BEC’s
networks in France.
• Geographic dimension:
Coopaname is mainly based in the Paris region but the cooperative has seven welcome centers:
three in Paris, three in the Parisian suburbs and one in Le Mans (Sarthe).
• Organisational structure and governance
Coopaname is a SCOP-SA since 2008. The executive board is elected for three years by the
general meeting. The Chair of the board is currently held by a two-person team, which has been
chosen through a procedure of election without candidate among the ‘salaried-entrepreneurs’.
The executive management is collegial (three directors) and appointed by the board. Each
member of the cooperative is called to become a shareholder. At this time, about one third of
members are also shareholders in the BEC.
• Organisational form:
Coopaname has two kinds of employees: the ‘salaried-entrepreneurs’ and the staff members
(directors, counsellors, accountants). The contract of a salaried-entrepreneur (unlike the staff)
don’t specify the working time because there is no subordination relationship.
There has been a debate in Coopaname, regarding the situation of the non-salaried members. For
a long time, the cooperative refused to sign CAPEs (Contrat d’appui au projet d’entreprise) for
the launch phase, considering that the CAPE is a commercial contract. Nevertheless, it appeared
like a way to protect project bearers during this starting phase (for example, in case of accident).
The debate also concerns people who can’t outreach a minimum of turn over and therefore can
be salaried only a few hours a month: does the cooperative have to accept this situation, even if it
may encourage precariousness?
Coopaname seeks ways to build cooperation between the salaried entrepreneurs. Order sharing,
common answers to calls for tender, creation of common brands joining complementary
activities, are used to rebalance the relationships and limit the dependency of project bearers on
their clients and contractors. The ‘coopanamiens’ favor set-up and even hacking of labour
institutions. For instance, they chose to consider the employee representative bodies as a
protection against different forms of subordination. Against the subordination to the self-
employers they are as well, but also against the moral leadership that the coop’s direction
exercises on members, and mainly the dependency on contractors. Employee representative
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bodies are seen as a way to develop pedagogy of resistance, against the abusive practices of
contractors and the social dumping imposed by the customers.
2. Members
• Kind of independent workers represented:
The Coopananame’s members are mainly highly skilled, with a majority of women. They often
work in the sector service (consulting, coaching and well-being, communication, IT development,
art and culture, sustainable development, training, aso.), even if there are also some craftsmen.
As seen before, we can distinguish several categories of members: the project bearers in the
support phase, the salaried-entrepreneurs and the staff. Part of the staff and part of the salaried-
entrepreneurs are also shareholders.
• Members’ recruitment:
Coopaname welcomes each project bearer who wants to develop his activity, whatever individual
or collective, in the cooperative framework, apart from the members of regulated professions.
Unlike other BECs, Coopaname hardly selects the projects. Then Coopaname provides
mutualized services (accounting, invoicing, legal assistance, individual and collective support) and
collects 11, 5% of the gross margin, from the moment the activity generates a turn over.
According to the Coopaname’s members, the two main reasons to enroll in the organization are:
the possibility to carry out an independent activity while benefiting from the employment’s social
rights; the interest in the economic and political model of BECs.
3. Collective representation and strategies
• Strategies of collective representation:
Coopaname practiced a strategy of experimentation and negotiation with the administrations
(URSSAF, Pole Emploi, aso.), in order to obtain the recognition of the ‘salaried-entrepreneur’. It
didn’t directly contribute to the formulation of the Hamon Law, even if some aspects of this law
were inspired by the Coopaname’s experience. The chosen strategy is to experiment first, to enact
local rules, in order to shape the law without standardizing the situations.
• Strategies of mobilization and involvement:
Coopaname wants to remain a company with a human size, even if it promotes its ideas very
broadly. The major challenge is to involve the members (817 at the end of 2015) in the
democratic life. During the year 2015, 50 people have held an elected office: representative
bodies, members of specific commissions, aso.
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• Political role:
Coopaname can be seen as a political actor, primarily through its action of experimentation and
dissemination. Nevertheless, some of its members also defend political visions, such as a unique
status and a labor code for all the workers, whatever they are employees or independent workers.
• Coalitions:
Coopaname develops different kinds of partnership:
- With other cooperatives, in the prospect of the ‘Integral Cooperative’, linking different fields of
the economic and social life: consumption, production, housing, education, health, aso.
- With other organizations, in the prospect of an autonomous workers’ movement: in that
perspective, Bigre! gathers several organizations of the social economy (associations, cooperatives
and mutuals) which, thanks to the cooperation, want to move beyond the alternative choice
between the subordinated salaried work and a precarious independent work. Other partnerships
are envisaged to the same end: FreeLanceFaire, Happy Dev, aso.
- Coopaname is involved in the project of the PointCarré, a cooperative “third place” in Saint-
Denis (coworking, fablab and distribution of local crafts).
- Coopaname cooperates with members of the University, especially through the Manufacture
cooperative, which is an action research project, aiming at the dissemination of the cooperative
spirit.
4. Results and future perspective
• Results:
Through its experimentations and through the participation of its directors to cooperative
networks (Coopérer pour entreprendre, CGScop, aso.), Coopaname contributed significantly to
the legal recognition of the salaried-entrepreneurs. It also contributed to diffuse a new concept
of employment and a new concept of enterprise.
• Future perspective:
On the basis of the encountered difficulties, Coopaname considers two paths of progress:
- A unique worker’s status, because a lot of Coopaname’s members, and more generally a lot of
self-employed, combine several status, which is a cause of lawlessness
- The acknowledgement of a Cooperative law: at the present time, Coopaname is subject to the
business law, which limits the possibilities of democratic governance, sharing of responsibilities
and internal social dialogue.
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The AFD (Alliance française des designers)
1. Description of the organisation
• Origin
The AFD was created in 2003 by a group of professional designers, with the aim of federating all
the designers, whatever their discipline or their status.
The AFD brings together several former unions, especially:
- the SNG (Syndicat national des graphistes), which was founded in 1946 and
instigated the registration of graphic designers in the “Maison des artistes”, with its
consequent social and fiscal benefits;
- the SDE (syndicat des designers d’environnement) founded in 1986;
- the UFDI (Union française des designers industriels), which is due to the
merger in 1979 of two unions of industrial designers, one representing the
independent designers, the other gathering the salaried designers;
- the SNTD (syndicat national des designers textiles).
Therefore the AFD is a multidisciplinary trade union of designers, a common foundation for
independent, firm owner or in-house designers of all disciplines (messages, products and spaces).
• Independence: the AFD is an independent organisation.
• Geographic dimension: national. There are 18 representatives AFD located in 17 cities: their
role is to gather and transmit to the center the local problems and disseminate the national
documents.
• Organisational structure and governance
The AFD is an association. It is managed by an executive board and a bureau. The executive
board (16 administrators) is elected by the general meeting and the three members of the bureau
(President, secretary and treasurer) are elected by the board. Each administrator has a specialized
task, for example the relationships with one of the line ministries (Culture, Commerce et
Industrie, finances, Affaires sociales).
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• Organisational form
The AFD is based on voluntary work but its members want to develop its activities and hire
some staff in the medium term.
2. Members
• Kind of independent workers represented:
Any person, owner of a private company, freelancing as a member of a professional organization
or salaried employee, working in any discipline of design (space, product and message: codes
NAF 74.10 and 90.03A.) can apply for membership.
According to the website, the Space designers represent 10% of the members. The majority of
their activities include: Commercial architecture, Interior Design, Scenography, Landscape design.
Major status: Companies.
The Product designers represent 40% of the members. Major activities: Tableware, Object,
Furniture, Textile, Fashion, and Industrial Design. Major status: Companies and Freelance.
The Message designers represent 50% of the members. Major activities: Visual Communication,
Global Visual Communication, Graphics, Illustration, Print, Multimedia, Web, Photography, and
Video. Major status: Freelance
Various systems of social protection are represented: “Maison des artistes” (visual arts), Agessa
(literary arts), RSI, general regime (employment in cooperatives or associations).
Created in 1952 as a solidarity organization for the artists, the “Maison des artistes” became in
1969 in charge of the regime of artists authors (a favorable system, quite similar to the general
regime).
The number of design schools increased dramatically for twenty years (about 300 schools at the
present time), inducing an increasing number of young designers. At the same time, there are
more and more independent workers in the profession.
• Members’ recruitment:
The AFD has about 2200 members. At the present time, the membership fee is 180 euros for
active members and 70 euros for associated members (an associated member has committed the
70 euros for two years at least). Active members and associated members benefit from all the
services offered by AFD and take part in the votes of the general meetings.
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3. Collective representation and strategies
• Strategies of collective representation
The AFD accompanies its members in the practice of their activity in the fiscal, social and legal
realms and provides information about the profession via its website and with its monthly
newsletter: design news, useful administrative documents, problems encountered by
professionals, competitions, and calls for work.
The AFD proposes a personalised assistance to its members. In case of court proceedings, it
possibly can offer an advance in payment.
The AFD is mainly involved with the line ministries, in order to defend the profession’s interests.
According to Christophe Lemaire, it is a long term work, especially on technical issues.
• Strategies of mobilization and involvement
According to Christophe Lemaire, active member of the AFD, the main reason why designers
join the AFD is to obtain information and services. The board is thinking about a new policy
towards its members. They want to propose two different levels of contribution: a basic level and
a complete offer (140 euros) with access to a professional indemnity cover and mutual insurance
at a special price.
The AFD is represented in the commissions of the “Maison des artistes” (MDA) and struggles
for the acknowledgement of product designers as authors, which is a condition for their access to
the MDA regime. On the 14th May 2016, AFD members invaded the MDA’s professional
commission, in order to protest against the exclusion of several product designers from the
regime.
The AFD also works for the recognition of a designer’s degree, which is part of the recognition
of the profession, whatever the discipline.
The AFD fights against the “free pitching”, that means for example the construction of a model
or a prototype without any remuneration, in response to a call for tenders. In that respect, the
AFD has developed the AFD Charter for public procurements and supports any designer who
wants to withstand questionable practices.
• Political role:
According to Christophe Lemaire, even if the major part of the lobbying effort is a long-term
and quite technical endeavor, the AFD has also to play a political role and position itself in
relation to global political issues, such as the basic income.
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• Coalitions
The AFD works with several partners:
- APCI (Agence pour la création industrielle): to enhance an economic, social and
cultural approach of design in France and abroad.
- Designers interactifs: to promote trades in digital design.
- Observatoire de l’EcoDesign
- Fablab Woma
- Shangaï Art and design Academy (SADA)
- Shangaï Oriental Culture and creative Develop Center.
The AFD also develops partnerships with other professional unions in France and abroad, with
authors’ societies, with social protection institutions (Agessa, Maison des artistes, URSSAF) and
with design schools.
4. Results and future perspective
• Results:
AFD’s administrators contributed to obtain the access to professional training for the visual
artists, at the same conditions than the artists in the performing arts (that means on similar terms
as salaried people), as well as the business tax exemption for them.
The AFD releases a blacklist of public tenders, circulates a Charter of good practices and
provides support against bad practices.
• Future perspective:
- To develop further the recognition of the profession
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- To improve the social protection of visual artists, especially in case of maternity
leave or unemployment (for people who are at the same time employees and authors)
- To obtain a contribution of 1, 5% from the broadcasters (instead of 1,1%), in
order to finance a better social protection, especially a risk coverage against a large
customer’s loss.
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The CGT and the representation of the independent workers
Description of the organisation
• Origin
In February 2017, the CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail) created two new unions: a union
of VTC (Voiture de Transport avec chauffeur, i.e passenger car with driver)) and a union of meal
deliverers, with the support of the Transport Federation, the Commerce Federation and the
departmental Union of Gironde.
The collective representation of independent workers is not completely a new phenomenon in
the CGT’s story. In particular, the Union of the Coachmen, which registered its statuses in 1884,
became a founding member of the CGT in 1895.
We can mention another precedent, the case of the branch managers, especially in the food retail
distribution (Casino, Nicolas). Even though these managers aren’t employees, they benefit from
the union rights and they are represented in the collective bargaining by the Federation CGT of
the employees in commerce, distribution and services. The federation also supports them in case
of conflict with the group.
In 2016, taking note of the fragmentation of the workforce, the 51th congress calls on the
unionists to “do everything in order to organize all the workers, whatever their status”
(autoentrepreneurs, employees of umbrella companies, aso.), and help them to fight against the
subordination relationship.
But the foundation of the two new unions responses to a bottom up phenomenon: the creation
of informal collectives of young workers, especially the deliverers in Gironde. The meetings
between ancient and new unionists were organised in the Labour Exchange in Bordeaux.
2. Members
economically dependent workers
platform workers
It should be noted that the definition of the TED (economically dependent workers) has been
thought out, without reaching a consensus.
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3. Collective representation and strategies
• Strategies
The Federation of commerce, services and distribution, the Union of salaried couriers, the
Federation of research companies and the Confederation CGT meet in December 2016 and
retain three axes:
- Industrial action: the convergence of the rights and benefits of salaried couriers
and independent deliverers (in order to prevent the risk of competition between
them)
- Legal action: legal assistance for independent workers who want to appeal to the
labour court (requalification in employment contract)
- Collective representation: proposal to create employee representative bodies in
front of the digital platforms.
• Coalitions
Unlike the CFDT, the CGT doesn’t want to offer services (for example professional liability
insurance) to the independent workers but rather to support their claims vis-à-vis the platforms.
In this perspective, the CGT supports collectives of independent deliverers, such as the
“Coursiers indépendants bordelais”. In fact, the service contract signed by the deliverers includes
several aspects of a subordination relationship: dress code, standards of behavior and control by
the provider.
The CGT disagrees with the Fedae (Fédération des autoentrepreneurs), as far as the Union
doesn’t support the status of autoentrepreneur, considered as a dangerous measure that pulls
down the workers’ rights.
The CGT decided to adopt a bottom up approach, which means to relay the demands of
emerging collectives: “coalitions can be built only from the bottom up”.
If the CGT’s support concerns mainly the independent workers in the services of transport and
delivery, we can mention other forms of action. For example, the SNAII (Syndicat national des
auteurs d’invention indépendants), which is part of the Federation of research companies, has
published a “manifesto for a status of independent inventors”, claiming that the inventors may
be protected by the author’s status, instead of depending from the ministry of Industry. The
SNAII was founded in 2012 and welcome by the Federation CGT of research companies.
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4. Results and future perspective
The strategic objective is to impose a new risk sharing, through the payment of contributions by
the online platforms.
In the long term, the CGT defends its project of the “New Status of the Salaried Worker” and
“Professional Social Security”, that means a common set of labour and social rights, attached to
the person of the worker (employee or not), transferable and collectively guaranteed.
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The platform Union (F3C-CFDT)
Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet the platform’s founder. Hence, we could collect only very limited information. 1. Description of the organisation
• Origin:
Considering the impact of digital technology on the workplace and the hybridization of status between independent and salaried work, the CFDT’s Federation of Communication, Conseil, Culture (F3C) organized in 2015 a meetup and a barcamp with digital workers in a coworking space in Paris, the NUMA, in order to understand the specific needs of these workers. This approach follows a former thinking initiated by the CFDT-Cadres at the turn of the century about the autonomous professionals (see part I). The federation decided to experiment first an offer of services. It also hopes to build the independent workers’ claims through the platform, in a bottom up approach. The platform was launched at the end of 2106. http://www.f3c-cfdt.fr/union
• Geographic dimension: national
2. Members
• Kind of independent workers represented:
Independent workers, apart from regulated professions and some specific activities uncovered by the professional insurance
• Members’ recruitment: The platform provides some tools (such as Customer Relationships Management), a protection in case of difficulties with the RSI, a free bank account (Soon), a professional insurance (Axa), a digital safe (la Poste) and legal advice. The counterpart is 1% of the turnover. Coaching and accounting support are optional. 3. Collective representation and strategies
The aim is to build the collective representation through the exchanges on the platform. In this perspective, the platform has to become a place of meeting, debate, mutual aid.
At this time, it is too soon to provide results.