Question 15888 — work

Summary

Mrs Cyrielle Chatelain questions the Minister of Labor and Solidarity on the worrying attacks on the independence of the labor inspection within the framework of the territorial organization of the State (OTE). For several years, the union organizations of the Ministry of Labor have been warning about the consequences of the reform of the OTE and the placement of interministerial departmental directorates under the authority of the prefects. They denounce a progressive weakening of the independence of the labor inspection, although guaranteed by Convention No. 81 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), ratified by France. While an expert report on psychosocial risks within the Ministry of Labor must be presented on June 18, 2026 before the ministerial CHSCT, several recent events occurring in Isère illustrate the concerns expressed by for a long time by staff representatives. On the occasion of May 1, 2026, labor inspection agents undertook an information campaign aimed at employers in order to remind them of the legal framework applicable to the compulsory non-working nature of this day. These agents also planned control operations intended to guarantee respect for employees' rights. According to several elements made public by the union representatives, these steps would have been hampered by the hierarchy of the departmental directorate of employment, labor and solidarity (DDETS) of Isère, in particular by the withholding of information letters and announcements of controls while awaiting national instructions. At the same time, several agents involved in these efforts are now the subject of disciplinary or legal proceedings, giving rise to strong concern about the existence of possible reprisal measures against agents who have carried out their control missions in compliance with labor law. Furthermore, certain agents indicate that they were asked to participate in CODAF operations linked to the fight against drug trafficking via instructions transmitted under the direct authority of the prefecture, further blurring the necessary separation between the missions of control of labor law and prefectural management. These difficulties fit more broadly into a context of profound weakening of labor inspection, subject to a particularly worrying “double scissors”. On the one hand, the continued reduction in staff numbers has led to a historically low level in the number of control agents, falling from around 2,300 at the start of Emmanuel Macron's first five-year term to almost 1,800 today, to ensure the control of more than 2.2 million companies, now placing France among the least equipped countries in Europe in terms of labor inspection. On the other hand, staff representatives denounce the deleterious effects of new public management logic, marked by service management based on quantified objectives and control tables, to the detriment of the meaning of service missions. public, the quality of the control exercised and the mental health of agents. These situations appear to be contrary to the commitments made by the Government in 2014 aimed at maintaining a specific hierarchical line for labor inspection in order to preserve its independence, in accordance with the requirements of ILO Convention No. 81. In this context, she asks what measures the Government intends to take to guarantee effectively the independence of the labor inspection, to prevent any undue hierarchical or prefectural interference in control missions, to preserve the human resources necessary for the exercise of these missions and to protect agents carrying out their functions in compliance with labor law.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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