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Unions of La Poste have been heard. Rocked by three suicides in six months, the postal group, which employs 240,000 people, has taken the measure of social malaise that reigns within its walls. Its CEO, Jean-Paul Bailly announced Monday "adjustments" in the reorganization under way in the business. However, he rejected the idea of ​​a six-month pause in the restructuring of the branch post, as was mentioned the Sunday newspaper this weekend. "Adaptation of the company can not stop. It does not take a break: some projects will continue, others may see their schedules relaxed, "he said in a statement.

Jean-Paul Bailly has also stressed the importance of continuing the "cycle of listening" started last week and announced a "great dialogue to improve social cohesion" in local and national levels, until 15 September. Parallel negotiations should also lead to a "package of concrete measures by April 30." The Post decided, also, to extend by six months the deployment of employee ownership, a project which met recently to outright union opposition. Finally, Jean-Paul Bailly has appointed a "mediator of work life," a position entrusted to his chief of staff, Dominique Blanchecotte.

Calendar of crisis accelerated

The Post had already accelerated its timetable for ending the crisis last week, after the suicide, March 11, a part of the group in Britain. In a folder left behind, this forty, who had been off long illness since November and was found hanged at his place of work in Brittany, had denounced a hard three years from its hierarchy. This was the second suicide in Breton Post in ten days. February 29, Jeremy Buan, a senior of 28 years, had committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of La Poste in Rennes, in the Ille-et-Vilaine. He too had reported his "outstanding work" in a letter released by his partner. Immediately, the Post Office had opened on Tuesday for talks with the unions on "health and welfare at work", promising that "proposals" would be made "before summer" make quick cash.

The measures announced today should therefore satisfy the unions who denounced social climate "anxiety" since the suicide last September of a 52-year employee who was, also, défenestrée the fourth floor of the financial center of the 15th arrondissement in Paris. "This situation is unfortunately not unique to the post office," said Antoine Le Séguillon this week, a union representative GSC in Figaro.fr. "And it is not unique to Britain," he said hoping that the leadership would engage quickly "concrete actions".

Action plan against erosion mail

Faced with the erosion of its mail business, which it considered that the volumes would collapse by 30% over 2008-2015, the Post Office had drawn a new plan in 2009. Jean-Paul Bailly had emphasized that this branch should "reinvent themselves" by offering new services. Gradually, the schedules of post offices have been extended throughout France, robots have been installed to reduce waiting times for customers and, last September, The Post has completely redesigned its line of mail.

A strategy that has "paid off", welcomed the group during the presentation of its annual results on March 8. While lower volumes continued with a decrease of 3%, after falling 3.3% in 2010, the mail business recorded a turnover stable at EUR 11.5 billion (+ 0.3%), more than half of the total activity of La Poste. But for the unions, these good results have been costly to employees. According to the CGT, it was obtained "at a price of 10,091 job cuts" and an increase in sick leave.

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The Kerviel affair did not end annoying Societe Generale. While the appeal of Jerome Kerviel should be held next June, a new legal developments oppose the bank Tuesday to four of its employees. These employed a center of Marseille succession management demanding 15,000 euros in damages to their employer, Societe Generale, for the moral prejudice they suffered as a result of the Kerviel affair.

Since the discovery record losses in 2008 – 4.9 billion euros – earned by the former trader, these employees claim to be the subject of "jokes" from their customers, some having been until the deal with "thieves," said their lawyer, Richard Daniel. "These taunts lasted for months, at least until the first trial of Jerome Kerviel in 2010," he says. The employees would like to see these inconveniences recognized by the justice and compensation. A hearing is scheduled next Tuesday in the morning before the 6th Civil Chamber of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Nanterre.

SocGen cleared

In the first trial of Jerome Kerviel in October 2010, two employees were already in civil proceedings. Also represented by Daniel Richard, they had managed to gain recognition by the judge moral prejudice "against the deleterious working conditions" resulting from the incident, and "threats" that it "poses to their career prospects. " At the time, the former trader was sentenced to compensate up to 2,500 euros each, plus 4.9 billion euros due to Societe Generale.

Mr. Daniel Richard had immediately called the bank to take the money for its support. "The bank must answer for his own faults: he was convicted July 4, 2008 by the Banking Commission for the serious flaws in its internal control system. Societe Generale would do well by doing this spontaneously compensation ", potentially involving every employee in contact with customers, he argued in October 2010. For the bank, completely cleared at trial of the scandal Kerviel, such a decision would create a precedent difficult to manage.

At the trial of Jerome Kerviel, the lawyer had failed to take the responsibility of the bank financial loss suffered by the employee shareholders of the group, linked to the loss of their holdings on the merits corporate savings. In 2008, SocGen's share price has lost more than 60%. "That damage can not be interpreted as a direct consequence of the facts," the judge had ruled.  

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Twitter users who have an American Express card will be able to save money on their purchases. The financial services provider has developed a range of coupons to be distributed by the microblogging platform in the United States.

To qualify, users must involve affected their American Express card to their Twitter account, a dedicated website. They can then post a message on Twitter ("tweets") with a keyword identification ("hashtag") to receive a gift certificate for their card, which will be used in several merchant partners. For example, writing "I will redo my wardrobe # AmexHM" on Twitter, the user gets a $ 10 discount on their next purchase over $ 50 at H & M. The brand's ready-to-wear, and Dell, Virgin America, Zappos, FedEx and McDonald's are among the partners in this new advertising offer.

An offer for mobile

"American Express converts the content of Twitter in business offer, by linking the card holders with traders, offering added value to both parties", welcomed Ed Gilligan, vice president of American Express in a statement. Above all, American Express is attempting to upgrade the "tweets" for advertising purposes, which are more and more on Twitter. The microblogging platform was cautiously introduced advertising on its service in April 2010, with "Promoted tweets", inspired by the sponsored links on search engines. Many brands – especially American – have therefore tried to use the service that boasts over 100 million monthly active users.

Last week, the start-up went into high gear, announcing the launch of a commercial for its mobile applications. "It's been almost two years since we launched the sponsored tweets, the first of our advertising products. Meanwhile, Internet users around the world have increasingly accessed Twitter from a mobile terminal, "the company said in a note to blog. Broadcast on the mobile site, tweets and accounts Sponsored advertising will now also distributed in mobile applications for Android and iPhone Twitter. "This will allow people to see the tweets of major brands that matter to them," says Twitter.

An announcement that coincided with the launch of Facebook, a mobile advertising offering for the service and coupons

.

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"We will put patterns Florange unemployed by taking control of the plant." Edward Martin, representative of the CFDT EWC ArcelorMittal, wants offensive. The occupation of the site, scheduled for tomorrow, is a direct consequence of the extension until 30 June of the closure of two blast furnaces Florange, the last of Lorraine. "The direction we to understand that, barring a miracle, this closure would last all year," says Edward Martin.

For several months, the largest producer of steel has many announcements to reduce its production capacity. Spain, Belgium and France but also Romania and Czech Republic were affected. Today, only the blast furnaces in Liege never reopen. Other closures are for the moment, temporary.

A temporary measure reaffirmed to the minister, Eric Besson

Bourrier Hervé, President of ArcelorMittal France, reaffirmed that "temporary" to Eric Besson, Minister of Industry, last week. Employees such as trade unionists fear yet more than this closing becomes final. The clues that point in this direction are beginning to be numerous.

"A blast furnace is designed to run continuously, says an industry expert. It degrades when it is not the case. "The first blast furnace Florange is closed since June. The second since October. Investment and maintenance are reduced. Some were made late last year but "there is nothing for a month and a half" notes François Pagano, CFE-CGC delegate. "The industrial base is deteriorating, laments Edward Martin. With the cold, some lines broken. "Worse:" The founders began to be reclassified in the group. Leaders do not take it otherwise if they had close Florange. "

The recovery of orders has not changed all that

The recovery of orders failed to revive the plant. Aditya Mittal, CFO of ArcelorMittal, said on publication of results in 2011 that "shipments are much better than the fourth quarter of 2011, but we are still far volumes 2006, 2007 and 2008." What does surprisingly, these years being excellent.

Francois Pagano explains that "the business unit North, including Dunkirk, Florange, Benelux and Germany, recorded 3.7 million tons of orders for the second quarter of 2012 while its production capacity is 3.8 million . So the plants are running at 97% capacity. At this level, it would be possible to reopen Florange to avoid a potential bottleneck. "

Finally, the closure would be consistent with the group's strategy to focus on very large production units in coastline at Dunkirk and Fos sur mer in France and Bremen in Germany. The justifications for the closure of Liege seem perfectly applicable to Florange. "ArcelorMittal is considering a gain of 56 euros per tonne, which would be credited to the closure of Liege and transfer the production of slabs (Note: raw material for the manufacture of sheet metal) to Dunkirk," says the firm Laplace Council A study commissioned by the Walloon region. The forward gain is identical to Florange: "The leaders explain that ArcelorMittal bring slabs from Dunkirk saves 50 euros per tonne," confirms Francois Pagano.

With increased action "punch", although some have put Florange in the heart of the current election campaign. "Getting a formal commitment of a private company seems complicated," admits to the entourage of Eric Besson. A conclusion which adheres Francois Pagano whose only solution is to "convince Lakshmi Mittal's economic interest Florange".

"Ulcos" or last resort

All actors in the Lorraine steel cite Ulcos project, the acronym for "steel making process at very low CO2 emissions," as salvation for Florange. Launched in 2004, this is a program to find new techniques to produce steel with less carbon dioxide (CO2). Investments for carrying out are huge: 650 million euros! The French government has already pledged 150 million euros of funding. And Brussels could bring 250 million additional. ArcelorMittal leaders have vowed to launch Ulcos, and bring the balance of funding, if EU subsidies are granted.

Except that many obstacles have arisen in recent months. First techniques. The processes developed by Ulcos involve capturing and storing carbon. But experts are beginning to question this technique both for environmental reasons and efficiency.

Then the price of CO2 allowances collapsed in recent months, making plans to reduce CO2 emissions less urgent to implement. And nothing suggests that prices will go up quickly. In difficult economic times, as is currently the case, companies may be reluctant to invest in such technologies if there is no immediate financial implications.

Finally, there is little doubt that ArcelorMittal will decide to raise, or not, Florange on the basis of the only economic criteria. "The management of ArcelorMittal has told us clearly that Florange restarted if the market justifies it, and not only if Ulcos born," stated Michel Liebgott recently, area MP Florange.

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"Extremely aggressive." Thus, the Spanish Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, described the day before the announcement, the reform of the labor market. A long-awaited reform to lift the country from the spiral of unemployment, also pushed for weeks by the Union européenneet the IMF.

Spain, which displays the highest rate in Europe at 22.85%, passed the 5 million unemployed. If the explosion of the housing bubble has destroyed thousands of jobs since 2008, the failure of the labor market is also challenged. "The system is too much with a dual side highly protected permanent contracts, which are not conducive to improving productivity, and the other fixed-term contracts, very precarious," explicit Gayle Allard, IE Business School in Madrid.

The first part of the reform, presented Friday in the Council of Ministers, aims to reduce the cost of dismissal. The general allowance will be reduced from 45 to 33 days per year of service in the company. It may be reduced to 20 days for a troubled company, which links three semesters without profit. The compensation will also be capped at 24 months regardless of the employee's seniority. The reasons for entitlement to redundancy will also be expanded. The Conservative government wants to tackle the bleeding of youth unemployment that exceeds 48%.

Tax breaks for hiring

Decree-Law provides for the creation of a new permanent contract for an initial hiring of a young unemployed under 30 years. Businesses will benefit in this case a tax deduction of € 3,000 while the job seeker can accumulate 25% of his unemployment benefits with the salary for one year. Tax breaks, EUR 4500, are also provided for the hiring of long-term unemployed.  

The other priority for Madrid is to stop the use of fixed term contracts (CDD) repeatedly, very common in Spain, especially among youth and women. The CSD will be limited to two years. The aim is also to encourage training, another weakness of the country. Each employee should receive a quota of 20 hours.

If the Minister of Employment, Fatima Banez, welcomed "a historic reform" social unrest may still move up a notch. As protests intensified in regions against austerity widespread. "This reform will cost me a general strike", recently told the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.

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The surprises could affect 100,000 to 200,000 homes. According to Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France, households may not be taxed so far include paying the income tax this year. The head is the second austerity plan announced by the government last November and froze the tax scale.

Previously, the tax brackets, which forms the basis for taxation, were reviewed annually to reflect inflation increases the cost of living. By freezing for at least two years tax brackets, all persons whose incomes rose in 2011 could potentially be affected by the reform if they are left with taxable income greater than 5963 euros, the threshold first tranche of 5.5%. For the government, the money will have to pay these homes will be relatively low because the IRS does not claim the tax payment when it is less than 61 euros. Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France underlines that the sudden imposition could have more serious consequences for households as much aid as those granted to the school canteen and transport are related to the absence of taxation. Some families might therefore lose those benefits.

Changing slice

Another mechanical effect of freezing the scale, other households may already taxed, them, cross the threshold of the top tax bracket and thus having to pay more. This extra tax is not yet visible on the view that taxpayers received early this year to pay the first third. The surprises will come in September, when paying the balance. According to calculations of national union unified tax (Snui) quoted by the newspaper, the increases will be spread from 1.17% for a wealthy couple with no children at 12.57% for a single. The government expects in any case additional EUR 1.7 billion of tax revenue for 2012 and double that for 2013.

Finally, the richer will also be affected, because the scale of the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF) has also been frozen. The government expects 44 million of additional wealth tax in 2012 and 88 million more in 2013.

* The normal situation after indexing takes into account an inflation rate estimated at 2.1% in 2011.

After a series of accidents due to a falling elevator, with one death occurred Thursday in Paris, industry professionals warn of the lack of safety devices. "The safety of elevators is not effective," denounces Herve Lasseigne, president of the Federation of Independent Experts and Control Offices lifts (Fiebca).

Voted in 2003, the modernization plan, however, elevator provides that after three deadlines (2010, 2013 and 2018), all units of residential housing and office buildings should be standard.But, faced with the often high cost of work (between 5000 and 10,000 euros per lift for the first phase and up to 30,000 euros on average for work completed before July 2013), some owners are slow to meetings of the vote easy payday loans.

The delays are such that "15% to 20% of lifts (especially condominiums)," which should have been subject to new safety standards by the end of 2010, have not yet been upgraded, according to Fiebca. "The situation is very worrying, warns Herve Lasseigne, accident, this may have consequences in terms of civil liability or criminal, for condominium corporations," he says.

The upgrades are not a guarantee of safety. The many renovated elevators are dangerous because "treatments are often incomplete."

LE FIGARO. – Despite the progress of the Brussels summit in Cannes and G20, the euro area is still in turmoil. What is the right long-term EU strategy to ward off these attacks on the euro?

Edouard Balladur. – Efforts by the Franco-German cooperation is commendable, but it must go further. The Europe of 27 is too broad and diverse, it is little more than a big market for the euro area, it has a single currency, but it is struggling to make quick decisions and does not have a policy exchange decided by a governmental authority. For twenty years, I defend an organization of Europe by combining circles States according to the skills shared. It is urgent to implement and begin to better organize the euro area.If the ECB was implementing this massive deterrence, speculation would fall and we would cease to move from crisis to crisis paydayloan.

The Germans did not they always raised an objection of inadmissibility outright the idea?

Do they have a reasonable expectation of it together without the 2 trillion dollars that would discourage speculation? Why is opposed to the expanded role of the ECB? The fear of inflation? The risk is much less in a world of globalization based on a competition that lowers prices.

Some defend the "other policy" and openly talk about protectionism. This crisis gives them she right?

On the contrary, it gives them wrong. History has decided: to maintain our role in the world, defend the ability of our business, secure our energy, we need to reduce deficits.

At six months of the presidential election, the site of the EPR at Flamanville (Manche) has become the symbol of the debate on the future of nuclear power in France. The sector lights atomic defends tooth and nail so the continued construction of the first Generation III reactor (with a capacity of 1650 megawatts) on French soil. And she just won a first round: Monday, François Hollande, spoke to the chagrin of his potential allies, the Greens for the continuation of the project.

Stop Flamanville, it would stop dead "every effort of the industrial fabric, with over 170 suppliers in France and around the world work for this project," argued Thursday on site Machenaud Hervé, director of production and engineering of EDF.Its CEO, Henri Proglio, went further Thursday in Le Parisien, amounting to 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, and even 1 million taking into account the energy-intensive industries and promoted by the current low prices in France, the issue of a shutdown of nuclear power in France online cash advance. A "red flag" which has also incurred the wrath of the Greens.

Proudly displayed

For the sector, the challenge is to convince both safety and economic feasibility of the EPR. "We are building a completely safe reactor, which not only incorporates the feedback from the entire fleet (58 to 19 power reactors) but also has the amenities that were lacking in Fukushima," says Hervé Machenaud. It specifically targets the "ashtray"-installation capable of recovering the heart of the fusion reactor in case of puncture of the tank-and four buildings housing the safety relief devices.