The Rocard government was the Government of France headed by Prime Minister Michel Rocard. It was originally formed on 10 May 1988 by the presidential decree of President François Mitterrand. It was composed of members from the Socialist Party. The second Rocard government was dissolved on 15 May 1991 when Édith Cresson was chosen by Mitterrand to form the next cabinet.
Cabinet Michel Rocard – Prime Minister Roland Dumas – Minister of Foreign Affairs Édith Cresson – Minister of European Affairs Jean-Pierre Chevènement – Minister of Defense Pierre Joxe – Minister of the Interior Pierre Bérégovoy – Minister of Economy, Finance, Budget, and Privatization Roger Fauroux – Minister of Industry Michel Delebarre – Minister of Employment and Social Affairs Pierre Arpaillange – Minister of Justice Lionel Jospin – Minister of National Education, Sport, Research, and Technology Jack Lang – Minister of Culture and Communication Henri Nallet – Minister of Agriculture and Forests Maurice Faure – Minister of Housing and Equipment Louis Mermaz – Minister of Transport Jean Poperen – Minister of Relations with Parliament Jacques Pelletier – Minister of Cooperation and Development Paul Quilès – Minister of Posts, Telecommunications, and Space Michel Durafour – Minister of Civil Service Roger Fauroux – Minister of External Commerce Louis Le Pensec – Minister of Sea Brice Lalonde – Minister of the Environment
Changes 22–23 June 1988 – Michel Delebarre succeeds Mermaz as Minister of Transport and Le Pensec as Minister of Sea. The office of Minister of Social Affairs is abolished, but Claude Evin enters the ministry as Minister of Solidarity, Health, and Social Protection. Jean-Pierre Soisson succeeds Delebarre as Minister of Employment, becoming also Minister of Labour and Vocational Training. Louis Le Pensec becomes Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories. Jean-Marie-Rausch succeeds Fauroux as Minister of External Commerce. Hubert Curien succeeds Jospin as Minister of Research and Technology. Jospin remains Minister of National Education and Sport. Michel Durafour becomes Minister of Administrative Reforms as well as Minister of Civil Service. 28 June 1988 – Jack Lang becomes Minister of Great Works and Bicentenary in addition to being Minister of Culture and Communication. 22 February 1989 – Michel Delebarre succeeds Faure as Minister of Housing and Equipment, remaining also Minister of Transport. 2 October 1990 – The office of Minister of European Affairs is abolished. Henri Nallet succeeds Arpaillange as Minister of Justice. Louis Mermaz succeeds Nallet as Minister of Agriculture and Forests. The office of Minister of Bicentenary is abolished. Jack Lang remains minister of Culture, Communication and Great Works. 21 December 1990 – Michel Delebarre becomes Minister of City. Louis Besson succeeds Delebarre as Minister of Transport, Housing, Sea, and Equipment. 29 January 1991 – Pierre Joxe succeeds Chevènement as Minister of Defense. Philippe Marchand succeeds Joxe as Minister of the Interior.
Policies Working conditions In August 1988, the Rocard Government promulgated a decree-law strengthening the penalties for the employment of children. A decree of November 1988 defined technical terms and laid down rules governing the general conditions with which installations must comply regarding the protection of workers in establishments using electrical currents. The Arrete of December 1988 set up panels of three doctors with specialist knowledge of the diseases caused by dust containing free silica, asbestos or iron oxide, who were required to consider each case and deliver an opinion. Another Arrete of December 1988 set out the characteristics for the trademark and the certificate of conformity required for dangerous machines and equipment.
The Arrete of January 1989 provided for special medical surveillance of workers assigned to workplaces with a daily noise exposure of 85 decibels or above. Recommendations and technical Instructions for occupational physicians performing such medical surveillance are laid down in a document specifying the nature and frequency of the examinations. A Decree of February 1989 laid down the safety and health requirements in relation to powered Industrial trucks and their equipment. The Arrete of April 1989 stipulated that occupational physicians should produce each year a schedule of activities based on employees' health and health requirements. The Arrete covered health risks, workplaces and working conditions and specified the studies to be undertaken and the minimum number and frequency of inspection visits to workplaces. In the same field, the Arrete of May 1989 stipulated that occupational physicians In enterprises and establishments with more than 10 employees must compile and keep up-to-date a register listing the occupational hazards in the enterprise and the numbers of employees exposed to such hazards. The register was to be transmitted to the employer, kept at the disposal of the administration, and presented to the works committee for safety, health and working conditions at the same time as the annual report. A law passed in August 1989 amended a scheme introduced under a law on redundancy passed in 1986. The new law introduced a "prevention" element providing for aid to encourage firms to provide facilities for retraining workers and for conducting economic audits in small and medium-sized firms. There was also a "procedure" element providing for the works council to be kept informed and to be consulted, while the obligation to implement redeployment and retraining agreements was made generally applicable to all cases of redundancy for economic reasons. Regarding individual dismissals, the legislation aimed to put an end to certain fraudulent practices detrimental to workers (e.g. reducing working time before dismissing a worker so as to circumvent the need to give notice). The law also set out methods of calculating the special award payable to workers who lost their jobs as a result of an accident or an occupational illness. Facilities for assistance for workers called to an interview prior to dismissal were also included.
In 1990, in an effort to give new impetus to the collective bargaining process and to bring it into line with increases in actual wages, a goal was set up Rocard and his ministers to raise “collectively agreed minimum pay rates". This was based on a study of 164 sectors in both the "general" category (excluding metalworking) and in the metalworking category, each employing more than 10,000 workers. In 1997, however, it was found that only 38% of the "general" sectors had "complied" with the stated goals (i.e. all pay levels were higher than the SMIC), down from 41% in 1990. In metalworking, the proportion of "complying" sectors was only 11%, down from 29% in 1990.
In 1989, some restrictions were re-imposed on the ability of employers and workers to agree to temporary work contracts. A plan to encourage household savings was launched,http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/fulltext/5lgsjhvj7snw.pdf?expires=1347209728&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=D52FC8ECC4BB67382ED0649DD1C0408B while ALMP (Active Labour Market Policies) were expanded, notably public internships, training programmes, and subsidies for hard-to-place youths and the long-term unemployed. In addition, more money was spent on research.
The credit-formation was introduced, a voucher aimed at individuals who sought a general upgrading of their technical education. This was directed towards young school-leavers without a diploma, and anyone out of school was eligible for the voucher. The credit-formation was intended to enable individuals to reach the first rank of technical education (the certificate d'aptitude professionnelle, or CAP). Participants would work with counsellors to determine needs and desired training, and they would then be eligible for training in approved centres. In addition, the Ministry of Education would certify levels of skills acquisition. The credit formation was extended after a collective bargaining accord in March 1990 to workers who were employed but unskilled, and in May that year to a third category of workers, unemployed adults. A firm-based version of this programme was also established by the Rocard Government, known as the credit-impot formation. In explaining the purpose of this scheme, Anthony Daley noted that
“Firms could apply those funds to youth training. If they were insufficient, the firm could deduct twenty-five percent of the extra amount from its corporate taxes. For individuals with particularly low skill levels, the company's deduction rose to thirty-five percent. Training could take place in the plant or in a certified training centre.”
A law of July 1989 on collective working relations provides for the extension to men of advantages reserved for women in certain collective agreements, with this extension to be negotiated within a period of two years, laid down the methods for informing the works committee about vocational training matters, extended the category of staff representatives with a right to remuneration, and strengthened the sanctions applicable to the employment of illicit workers and to labour suppliers. The 1989 Loi Evin defined a set of rules that were applicable to all insurers. In 1990, a law was passed that moderately restricted the use of temporary employment services and fixed-term contracts by preventing employers from substituting explicitly unstable for stable work. Initiatives introduced in 1989 and 1990 that consolidated programs to diminish confusion among both recipients and program administrators. The TUC, SIVP, and PIL were folded into one programme (contrats emploi-solidarite, or CES), which acquired legal standing with a fixed-term contract. Participants in this programme received the minimum hourly wage, although they still only worked half-time. By 1991, over 400,000 people were served annually by the programme. The CRA was combined with contrats retour a l'emploi (CRE), another insertion programme, for the long-term unemployed. The CRE was changed by the Rocard Government into a training and employment creation mechanism, and had 100,000 participants by 1990. Funding was also increased for a holdover program from the previous Chirac Government (the allocation de formation-reclassement) that encouraged recipients of unemployment insurance to receive training.
A 1990 law concerning the protection of individuals against discrimination on grounds of their state of health or their disability amended the Penal Code, which already covered discrimination based on race or origin, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, customs, and sex.
The “loi Soisson” of 1989 codified the procedures and requirements for so-called “plans sociaux” for firms laying off more than ten employees, “requiring efforts on the part of firms to avoid layoffs and compensation for workers who did lose their jobs.” The budget of 1990 provided supplementary budgetary allocations to support the long-term unemployed, the creation of several thousand new civil-service posts, a reduction of taxes on rents, and a surtax on high incomes. An Act of June 1990 prohibited “the dismissal (and any other disciplinary measures) of a trade union officer on the grounds of his/her trade union activities,” and in November 1990 a law was passed that extended profit-sharing to firms with between 50 and 100 employees, while that same year the maximum bonus under Interessement des salarie's (CPS) was raised to 20% of gross wages.