Question 12354 — employment and activity

Summary

Ms. Emmanuelle Anthoine alerts the Minister of Agriculture and Food to the planned abolition of the employment assistance system for seasonal workers at the same time as the CICE, on January 1, 2019 and to its disastrous consequences for Drôme farmers. Indeed, the President of the Republic announced that the tax credit for competitiveness and employment (CICE) would be converted into additional reductions in charges. Gold, if this commitment has been respected, the executive would consider, in return, eliminating from 2019 the reduction in charges for occasional workers known as the “TO-DE reduction”. This abolition of the “TO-DE” regime would, despite the aforementioned reductions in charges, result in an average increase in charges for farmers of 189 euros per month per seasonal worker. According to MSA figures, seasonal employment has totaled nearly 164 million hours in 2016, or not far from 13% of all hours worked in agriculture. In addition to market gardening, viticulture, seeds, horticulture and arboriculture are the sectors that consume the most this type of contract. The cost of seasonal labor is an important factor in competitiveness compared to other productions. Beyond countries with much lower hourly wages that in France (Poland, Morocco), the cost of seasonal work is subject to very strong disparities in Europe. In Germany, the cost for the employer of one hour of seasonal work is 8.84 euros, compared to 12.11 euros in France. Employment contracts of less than 70 days are exempt from social charges across the Rhine. It is the same in Italy or Spain where the hourly cost is between 35% and 37% cheaper than in France, thanks to lower minimum wages. If this measure were to be confirmed, many farms could find themselves in dramatic financial situations and be forced to file for bankruptcy. This deletion is in contradiction with the objective of improving farmers' income, which is nevertheless defended by the Government within the framework of the EGALIM bill. The Drôme department, the first organic department in France, which experiences intense agricultural activity that employs a lot of labor and is exposed to intra-European competition, would be the French department most impacted by this measure. Seasonal jobs are numerous with 31,175 fixed-term contracts compared to 6,012 permanent contracts in 2016. Of these fixed-term contracts, 29,623 contracts are affected by the TO-DE with 5,788,364 hours worked. Its removal will impact more than 2,093 establishments, or nearly half of the 5,000 Drôme farms producing cereals, arboriculture, wine, aromatic and medicinal plants, but also livestock and pastoralism, essential to tourism development, with an additional cost estimated at nearly 8 million euros. The use of seasonal work is not a personnel management choice, it is a real natural constraint suffered by farmers, particularly in specialized crops and viticulture. In addition to having to face an additional increase in costs, farmers, already severely handicapped by European competition, will have no other solution (and provided that they can still maintain their activity) than to resort to posted workers, for the benefit of our European neighbors. The Drôme rural world has already been badly mistreated by the Government with the revision of disadvantaged areas and the loss of natural disability compensation (ICHN). This is why she asks him to take into consideration the situation of farmers and not to follow through on this plan to eliminate the “TO-DE” reduction which would call into question the sustainability of farms but also would have significant repercussions in the agri-food sector with serious threats as a result. employment throughout the country.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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