The UEBS

The 26 companies currently operating at the Base are all de facto members of the UEBS, which includes the prime contractors, CNES and Arianespace, the industrial manufacturing companies (Astrium, Air Liquide Spatial Guyane, Europropulsion and Regulus) and all the firms involved in industrial and operational activities.

Committed to the same process of promoting improvements in company management, the members of the bureau work together, on behalf of all the employers at the Base, doing everything possible to ensure the optimal functioning of social activity on the site.  For this reason they meet regularly on a Monday evening, under the aegis of the UEBS Chairman (Joël Barre, who is also the Director of CNES/CSG) to discuss any social and economic issues likely to be of interest, and to agree on how certain points of the site convention should be applied.  In addition to practical subjects such as the implementation of JARTT (days for the adjustment and reduction of working hours) or the calculation of travel allowances, the association may, if requested by the social partners, bring up points where the interpretation of a particular text is proving contentious (see "UEBS Monday Meetings").

The main aim of the UEBS is to identify the preliminary signs of social conflict in order to avoid any subsequent unrest which could be detrimental to the smooth operation of the Space Centre.  As it can sometimes be difficult to foresee the start of a conflict with any accuracy, a collective analysis of the causes of latent discontent is still the only way of guaranteeing a stable social climate.  With this in mind, although it is not a forum for governance, the UEBS is always ready to help a given company find a way out of a major crisis.  It is obviously in everybody's interest to continue the social dialogue on a permanent basis.  This is why upstream negotiation is always preferred, and then mediation, as a last resort when a conflict has already broken out.  In an event like the strike which disrupted Air Liquide Spatial Guyane last October, two mediators were called in: the Kourou labour inspector and the Deputy Departmental Labour Director from Cayenne.  As is sometimes the case in crisis situations, an arbitrator was needed to repair the thread of social dialogue. 

UEBS Monday Meetings

The UEBS, with the help of the BLC, works to improve the handling of social issues on the Base.  One has the files containing answers to all the employees' practical questions, in terms of salary, overtime, paid holidays, etc.; whereas the other implements the actions that will enable them to realise their ambitions, in terms of training and career development.  A brief glimpse of some topical social issues at CSG.

Every Monday, the six members of the UEBS bureau meet in the Janus building to discuss their concerns in social matters.  Three kinds of file are typically on the agenda:

Responses to the trade unions

In the context of its social monitoring mission, and as representative of the employers at the Base, the UEBS may be required to examine specific points raised by the different trade union bodies.  For example, at their request it recently reviewed the legality of the relocation of certain employees.

Participation in updating the Base's reference documents on social matters

There are three documents regulating all social issues at the Base: 

- the Site and Profession Convention (CSP), which ensures the harmonisation of elements relating to salary, working hours and career development schemes

- the agreement relating to the 35-hour working week, set up in the context of the Aubry Acts;

- the Adjustment of Working Hours (ATT) which governs waivers to the CSP in an operational context (for example in the event of a postponed launch).

In order to take into account amendments to the law or changes to the operational context (such as an increase in the launch rate), it may prove necessary to modify these documents.  Although at present it is only the prime contractors who can renegotiate the Site Convention with the trade unions, amending the two other documents is wholly within the jurisdiction of the UEBS bureau, which for instance is currently busy revising the ATT, which has become obsolete in the present operational context.

Harmonisation of the applications of the Site Convention:

As a result of instructions, which shape the Site Convention just as a decree shapes the Law, the members of the UEBS attempt to standardise the social practices on the Base. The points dealt with relate to common concerns of both the HR managers and the employees at the site.  Here are a few noteworthy examples:

 - The days for the adjustment and reduction of working hours (JARTT), granted as compensation for the difference between the working hours imposed by the 35-hour law and the working hours actually in effect on the site (38 hours per week). It falls to the UEBS in particular to fix the dates of the JARTT imposed by management.

- Calculation and payment of travel allowances (per kilometre) particularly in certain exceptional cases.

- Application of the TEPA Act: dated 21 August 2007 in favour of Work, Employment and Purchasing Power (TEPA in French), for which there are specific application problems at the Base.