France: Industrial relations

Original and updating author: Mark Carley

Summary

• Employees are free to form trade unions and join unions of their choice, and may not be expelled from a union on discriminatory grounds. (See Trade unions)
• Sector-level collective agreements exist in almost all industries and there are various rules regarding collective bargaining. (See Collective bargaining)
• All companies with 11 or more employees must set up a social and economic committee, made up mainly of elected employee representatives, which has various information, consultation and other rights. (See Informing and consulting employees - general)
• Redundancy information and consultation obligations on employers vary with the scale of planned redundancies. (See Informing and consulting prior to redundancies)
• Employee representatives have the right to be informed and consulted on changes to the company's economic or legal structure. (See Informing and consulting prior to transfers)
• "Community-scale" undertakings must, in certain circumstances, establish a body to negotiate with management over the establishment of a European Works Council or an information and consultation procedure. (See European Works Councils)
• Individuals have a constitutional right to strike, but must exercise it collectively and in accordance with certain rules. (See Industrial action and picketing)
• Employees are entitled to be represented on the boards of companies, or groups of companies, in certain circumstances. (See Board-level employee representation)