ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1980s, in France there was an early development, compared with most continental European countries, towards the decentralisation of collective bargaining to company-level. This chapter outlines the institutional framework of the minimum wage and collective bargaining. By the end of the 2010s, the wage data reveal a convergence for all low wages towards the statutory minimum wage. It explores the pay bargaining strategies of sectoral actors regarding the low-wage end of the distribution, particularly the extent to which the salaire minimum interprofesionnel de croissance (SMIC) can be a tool for reducing wage inequalities. In France there is a strong interdependence between sectoral collective bargaining and the annual upgrading of the SMIC. Several reasons can be advanced for why collectively agreed minimum wages respond only imperfectly to SMIC increases. The role of the social partners was marginalised with the creation of a “group of experts” in 2008, charged with recommending the annual minimum wage increase.
