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Thunder in Saint-Nazaire! The Korean group STX Offshore and Shipbuilding 1a Friday in Seoul that it plans to sell its shipyards in France, Finland and China in the debt-reduction plan of the parent STX Corp.. "We are currently reviewing the structure of our society to focus on the domestic shipbuilding," said a spokesman for the South Korean group. "In this context, we are considering the sale of foreign assets to raise new cash."

So, these are the former sites of the Atlantic are found in unstable equilibrium. Indeed, STX Offshore controls 66% stake in these projects, with the remainder held by the French State. STX France officials refused to comment Friday evening on a possible sale of these assets. These financial problems are not a surprise to the employees of the Group to the extent that the need to restructure its debt was public knowledge. In fact, STX Corp has been weakened by the slowdown in global shipbuilding market.

The Government assures steps follow the situation of shipyards in Saint-Nazaire "close." This Saturday, the Minister of Economy, Pierre Moscovici, reiterated his "commitment to the Atlantic Yards" and its intention to "keep the job and excellence." "We will always" turn, assured the minister. Then it was Arnaud Montebourg, Minister of Productive Recovery, which states that nationalization without control would be useless. "Nationalization is a pragmatic, not ideological tool," said the World Arnaud Montebourg, recalling that the working tool of these projects is "efficient", but the main problem remains the lack of orders.

Unions expect an increase in the participation of the state in yards beyond the 33% it currently holds. The Socialist Senator de la Loire, Yannick Vaugrenard, had also requested the government side now organize a round table with French manufacturers who might be interested in a possible takeover. According to STX, potential buyers have already come forward to take over a part of its shipyards in Europe. "We will see more in the second half of this year," said a spokesman.  

The staff refused to time to sink into pessimism, since STX France recorded in December a historical control nearly one billion euros for a ship commanded by an American company, Royal Caribbean International. This debt reduction, if it is started, should not deprive the shipyards in Saint-Nazaire fighting regularly to get orders.

The final agreement reached at the end of last year even led to a skirmish between France and Finland2. The Finnish government, the shipyards were in competition with those of Saint-Nazaire for the construction of a giant cruise ship for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line owner, went to ask the European Commission to determine whether the rules competition had been met.

The textile industry is a mea culpa. Two signs are committed Monday to pay compensation to the victims of the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. One of the first to be confirmed working with garment factories destroyed, the British Primark, said in a communiqué1 his local team "working on the establishment of an immediate and sustainable assistance to disaster victims." Specifically, the group made contact with a local NGO to provide "emergency food stocks' families and account" payment of compensation ", the amount is not disclosed. These funds will be paid to "children who have lost their parents," the "wounded" and "families of deceased workers."

While a demonstration was held in front of one of its stores in London 2dimanche, Primark will not pay alone. The group urged other retailers who use subcontractors collapsed building "unfold and offer their help." In the process, Loblaw first food retail group in Canada, recognized to be related to the accident through its subsidiary cheap Joe Fresh clothing and promised financial support to victims. "We are in the process of finalizing the contours," he says in a communiqué3. Like Primark, the Spanish retailer Mango admitted view past orders for 25,000 items from suppliers Rana Plaza in the early hours of the tragedy, but added that they were samples. According to the Clean Clothes Campaign4 Association, based in Amsterdam, the British and Spanish Bonmarché Corte Ingles also revealed their links with these workshops. Other companies that were suspected weekend5 including Carrefour brand Tex, C & A, Benetton or Wal-Mart, but denied.

The financial challenge of responsible production

While the drama was over 380 dead and thousands injured, about 3,000 people employed in the building, the pressure rises on the western textile giants. They are charged to enjoy a local labor at low cost without always ensure checks (security, social and production) on site cash advance flexible payments. In Bangladesh, where wages revolve around 30 euros per month, the union of textile workers (National Garment Workers' Federation) launched a petition 6to force the industry – and spéficiquement Primark, Matalan and Mango – to compensate victims. The text has collected nearly 64,000 signatures to date. "The negligence must stop. The deaths of these workers could have been avoided if these groups had taken the protection of workers seriously, "says Amirul Haque Amin, president of the union. The collapse of the Rana Plaza is the latest in a long list of industrial accidents that have killed more than 1,000 workers in Bangladesh since 2005, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 7, which had a mission support at the scene of the disaster.

Most multinationals have yet signed codes of conduct intended to ensure that their products are made in responsible and ethical conditions, both on the front of the environment on the working conditions of employees. Primark, for example, is a signatory to the Code of Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) 8, an alliance of companies, NGOs and trade unions which also counts among its members the names of other clothing and Distribution: C & A, River Island, Stella McCartney, Inditex (Zara), Gap, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury's, etc.. The challenge for companies beyond the marketing pitch. With the emergence of a global market for socially responsible investment (SRI) in recent years, the non-financial criteria are increasingly taken into account by financial players who invest in companies. At the end of January 2013, the global market for responsible investment reached 13.600 billion (more than 10,000 billion), or 21.8% of assets under management, according to the World Alliance of responsible investors (GSIA) 9. SRI in France weighed € 149 billion in 201210, up 29% compared to 2011.

• Internet: surfing too can justify dismissal

Tourism sites, comparing prices, ready-to-wear, women's magazine … This framework has performed all 10,000 connections to the Internet from his office, within two or three weeks, unrelated to his work. The Court of Cassation, in the beginning, the immediate dismissal of the employee. The use of "abusive" Internet was selected as "serious misconduct". "In this area, as for the rest, there is a principle of fairness: the working time should be used for the job," summarizes Mr. Eric Rocheblave, a lawyer specializing in labor law at Montpellier.

Personal use of the Internet in the office, it is reasoned, is not prohibited by the Labour Code. The employer, however, the right to control what sites are visited, since the connection is provided within the work, and supposed to be used for professional purposes. Some sites are of course to be avoided: the Bordeaux Court of Appeal held in 2011 that the consultation sites "sexual activities and meetings" is a serious offense.

• Social networks: they constitute evidence of fault

What is said on Facebook is far from private, dozens of cases to prove it. Three engineers were dismissed in 2010 for insulting their boss on the social network. Posts were only visible by their "friends" … where an employee of the company, which has screenshots and forwarded to the employer. "The impressions are found increasingly in labor arbitration cases, observed Rocheblave me. Everyone is spying and folders. "Traces left on social networks constitute evidence and may be grounds for dismissal.  

The use of Facebook in the office is not prohibited but not recommended, especially if excessive, again because the principle of fairness at work. For many, the question does not arise: in 2011, 64% of companies blocking access to these networks to their employees.

In rare cases, social networks can also save the employees. Court of Appeal of Poitiers, a licensed salesperson verbally could demonstrate that it was well under employment contract showing messages left by his employer on his Facebook page.

• E-mail: protected if identified as "personal"

All e-mails from the professional messaging … are supposed to be professionals. The employer has an "absolute right" of these emails, "the same way a baker look at how our employees are making bread," notes Rocheblave me. Nothing prevents an employee to send personal emails, but in moderation. In 2009, the Council of Angers Prud'hommes confirmed the dismissal of an employee who had sent 156 personal e-mails in two months.

The secrecy of correspondence applies to personal mails clearly identified as such with the word "personal" in the subject. They can be consulted by management in the presence of the employee or representative, except in cases of "risk or special event." With regard to the content of e-mails, the same rules of decency apply. The Court of Appeal has recently Orleans upheld the dismissal of an employee for sending saucy emails to colleagues.  

• Work Phone:

some tolerance

According to the CNIL (PDF), "The use for personal phone (provided by employer) work is tolerated if it is reasonable and not prejudicial to your employer." Conversations can not be recorded, except in special cases and reported (qualitative studies, for example). The employer can control the use of the telephone, from invoices and phone records. An employee who had sent 522 SMS and spent a total of 24 hours of calls in three months on his business phone has escaped dismissal last summer, before the Court of Appeal of Grenoble. She acknowledged the complaint but considered as disproportionate dismissal, an employee with 12 years of seniority.

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Seen from Europe, it is still a great performance. Canada ends 2012 on a GDP growth of 1.8%, but shows a sharp slowdown at the end of the year. In the last quarter, GDP grew by only 0.2% compared to the previous three months. Above all, it shows a worse performance than its big brother U.S. (+2.2% in 2012), while in recent years, it is rather the Canadian economy that held the rope.

In fact, the country is a model at European level, that of a well-run country, which has imposed a diet and the necessary reforms in the 1990s. It has not been the financial storm of 2008 with the same intensity as the United States, thanks to the strength and the wisdom of its banks. Subprime loans have never weighed more than 5% of appropriations. Another asset of the country rich in natural resources, mining, oil and gas, has benefited from the surge in commodity prices, boosted by Chinese demand. Where exports account for nearly 35% of GDP.

Sharp increase in household debt

Nevertheless, after a few years at full speed also made by consumer spending, the engine is now Canadian landing. "In 2012, there is a double impact of a decline in public investment of 5.6% and a lower business investment, especially in the productive sector, which suffers from a lower external demand and a lack productivity, "Inna Mufteeva analysis, economist at Natixis. Added to this are the measures taken by the authorities to reduce household debt has reached crisis level. In ten years, it has increased by 50% to 150% of disposable income, and exceeds that of Americans.

As for interest rates very low, improvement of the labor market, which has quickly regained its pre-crisis level with an unemployment rate of 7.3% and banks less frowning on the Granting loans, real estate loans have increased significantly. They now represent 64% of total debt. Moreover, because of their exposure to the property sector, Moody's and Standard and Poor's have downgraded the bank. The spectrum of a real estate bubble fueled by rising prices in recent years concern the central bank and the government, which has notably reduced the life of the loan. "The risks are concentrated in major cities of Toronto and Vancouver," relativizes Christopher Ragan, an economist at McGill University.

Controversial pipeline

This raises another expert structural fragility of the country, economic interests which differ between provinces. When the highly industrial Ontario depends mainly on exports in the productive sector – which has suffered in recent months the Canadian dollar – Alberta rich in raw materials instead saw its oil sands.

This key sector of the energy, the challenge in the medium and long term will increase exports, constraints today by congestion problems. Canada would develop new pipelines to the United States but also to grant access on the Pacific coast. But these projects, including Keystone, which must reach Texas, are highly controversial for environmental reasons.

Problem of the rich, say the most optimistic. Canada sits on solid financial fundamentals, with a public debt of 35% of GDP and a small deficit in 2012 to 1.5% of GDP. What restart the machine if necessary.

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New twist in spy case Ikea France. Two former employees of the security company were summoned by the police of Versailles and indicted in the investigation of suspected illegal surveillance of employees and customers, according to a judicial source. They would have procured information on their criminal record, police or their bank accounts. The police of Versailles would not confirmed the information, saying that "a process is underway." Lefigaro.fr contacted by Ikea did not wish to comment immediately.

Dismissed last spring, the former Head of Risk Management between 1998 and 2012, Jean-François Paris, was "under indictment" mid-afternoon, according to a judicial jource. Eight months after the case came with revelations Chained Duck, Jean-François Paris was insured in the columns of the World, have acted at the request of his leadership. Suspected of being involved in the scandal, four leaders of Ikea France had also left the company last May.

The former deputy Jean-François Paris, has, meanwhile, was indicted in the morning. Prosecuted for offenses of computer files, she was placed under judicial supervision. His lawyer, Aurelien Hamelle, said his client "denies the facts alleged against him."

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Angela Merkel does not lace with Cyprus, which has been negotiating since June financial rescue. Chancellor was visiting the island Friday, not as head of government but as a member of the European People's Party (EPP) came to support openly, with twenty leaders of the Old Continent, the right candidate Nicos Anastasiades, given favorite in the presidential election of 17 February.

"Cyprus should go ahead with its obligations and economic reforms," ​​said the German chancellor. Merkel added that using an expected time for the Eurogroup on 21 January, will "not be decided immediately." To bail out its banks very exposed to the Greek crisis, and help refinance its debt, aid is estimated at 17 billion euros over four years, more than the annual GDP of a small island in the euro area No teletrack payday loans.  

The outgoing president, Demetris Christofias the communist who does not represent, launched reforms to reduce public spending. But it is hostile to privatization, desired by the troika (EU, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund). EPP leaders gathered Friday in Limassol expect more of his successor.

Angela Merkel has also stirred the carrot promising to Cyprus' solidarity of other European countries. " Time is running out for Nicosia barely pay its employees. Wednesday evening, the rating agency Moody's lowered the rating by three notches Cyprus to Caa3, pushing further the island in the speculative category. The risk of default increases, Moody's warned.

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Pierre Moscovici he prepares the ground already new listings difficult in the French car? The Minister of Economy and Finance has estimated Sunday evening, PSA Peugeot Citroën will "probably go further" measures taken in recent months to ensure its survival. Unspecified. Guest on the show "All political" France Inter-World-AFP, Pierre Moscovici simply stated that it was the leaders of the automotive group "to clarify the situation." And remember that PSA is a private company. But the statements of the Minister, elected Montbéliard in the Doubs, where PSA has its largest plant in France are not neutral.  

All policy – Pierre Moscovici by franceinter

Faced with the slowdown of its natural market – Europe – where new car sales fell by 9% in 2012, PSA has already taken several steps to recover: closure of its Aulnay site and removing 8,000 jobs cash advance loan. Meanwhile, he began a rapprochement with the U.S. General Motors, stabilized its financial subsidiary and changed its governance. This year, PSA must be addressed to improve the competitiveness of its French factories like Renault, hoping to quickly sign an agreement for this purpose with its unions.

2013 will be very difficult for both companies while the French market could again decline (-5%) this year.

Regulated gas prices increase by 2.4% on January 1st. The information circulating over the past few days, she made official Monday morning by the Minister of Energy, Delphine Batho. Some 10 million households are affected by this measure.

This is the last time gas prices are reviewed on a quarterly basis. Now, the formula will apply every month, said Delphine Batho, with a reference period for the pricing not more than six months but eight. "The government wants not only to better smooth the variations of gas prices but also trivialize this episode turns for several years psychodrama one hand, GDF Suez demanding an increase in the other, governments hinder the maximum not to displease opinion, "says one industry expert.

Specifically, up 2.4% on January 1 comes after the State Council has declared illegal the increase of 2% on 1 October: GDF Suez, in accordance with the law which states that the cost of procurement of company are fully passed, would have had to get up more than 6%. Governments have been forced to make a tariff adjustment, it being understood that the application of the formula 1 January resulted in an increase of only 0.8%.

The rival GDF Suez disappointed

The government has taken other steps to try to soften the bill: one "emergency" is to extend social tariffs for gas and electricity to 830,000 more people. For the moment, some 360,000 customers benefit from these rates for gas.

Other ads fit in the longer term. The government wants to encourage particular GDF Suez to renegotiate supply contracts: they will be subject to an annual report of the Regulatory Commission (CRE). The company has always said she constantly renegotiating these contracts, while the regulator is already making audits. But the government is also clearly continue to weigh on the evolution of prices not only can decide every 1st July to revise the formula, but a safeguard clause provides that the government may freeze the application of the formula "Emergency" or soaring price of hydrocarbons. Accuracy of size: all this device must still be a statutory instrument. Possible improvements are perfectly feasible.

The National Association of energy retail operators (anode), which includes rival GDF Suez Monday showed his disappointment: "No solution has been found to effectively protect the purchasing power of consumers. The only remedy is to increase competition, or there is not a word about it, says Fabien Choné, president of the anode. More than 50% of the French do not know that there are offers up to 15% cheaper than the regulated tariffs. "

Anode will meet Friday and should make the decision to file an appeal with the European Commission. It stigmatizes a longstanding French energy market very locked.

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Telemedicine acclaimed

Telemedicine is the preferred solution for French and doctors. According to the survey Jalma, 44% of French and half of doctors are willing to experiment telemonitoring (sensors inform the practitioner about the health of the patient). As for the remote teleconsultation, she seduces a priori one third of French and 41% of doctors. "The doctors are in favor of such developments provided they are paid," experts warn, however Jalma.

Delegation of tasks to relieve doctors

Attention, delegate certain tasks to nurses to focus more on diagnostics is a sensitive issue and doctors' unions are rather hostile. By willingness to respect the prerogatives practitioners polite way-not to mention distrust another medical-but also because the method of compensation, the act does not encourage them to "outsource". Delegating care is, in effect losing money. Nevertheless, 57% of physicians surveyed by Jalma are in favor of this solution.

Financial incentives to attract young

Marisol Touraine, who refuses to go through the stress to repopulate the deserts medical setting incentives dollars and cents. It offers guarantee for two years a minimum annual income of 55,000 euros (4600 euros per month) to young doctors who settled in areas "under-funded" – to define precisely payday loans. With this financial carrot more or less well received by stakeholders, the Ministry of Health hopes to recruit 200 "territorial general medical practitioners" in 2013.

Nursing homes to join forces

The money is not enough, reacted representatives of internal and physicians following the announcement last weekend, as Le Figaro had revealed a guaranteed minimum income of 55,000 euros. If young people are leaving the rural areas and abandon the liberal practice is that they prefer to settle close to their place of study, teamwork and most of all have a social life. To attract them to the countryside, Marisol Touraine and some organizations want to build houses together several medical specialties practitioners, including GPs. Doctors bloggers received by the Minister of Health even want to transpose the prestigious university hospitals (CHU) in areas under-equipped, while focusing on general medicine, often undervalued in the curriculum.

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South Radio Group throws in the towel and separated from his eponymous radio. This is Marc Laufer, former Chief Operating Officer of NextRadioTV (RMC, BFM …) and unsuccessful candidate for the leadership of Skyrock, which is now in exclusive negotiations with the group led by Jean-Eric Valli. It is supported by two investors, including a bank.

The professional radio should still clinch a majority stake. It is committed to maintain the format of the station, which is a general one, and quarantine of employees who work there. Negotiations for the sale of the station mainly present in the South West began before the summer.

This assignment, confirmed Friday, is following the failure of South Radio broaden its audience and influence. "It is impossible for a generalist to build a radio audience on a substantial population base that does not exceed a few regions," does one advance in the direction of the southern group Radio.

"This is the CSA's refusal to grant new frequencies to the station that precipitated its difficulties. Especially since, at the same time, the regulator gave 90 frequencies to our competitors, RTL, Europe 1 and RMC. We have been deliberately marginalized. And it took until 2009 for a frequency of Paris. But the situation was difficult. In addition, with 55 radio stations in the capital, it takes a long time to develop an audience. "In point of asking in 2008 a procedure to safeguard the station. The latter was not enough to get out of the rut Radio South. Especially as the audience remains very modest.

€ 700,000 loss in 2011

During the last wave of audience from April to June, the radio listeners totaled 353,000 against 500,000 in 2005, when it was bought by Jean-Éric Valli Fabre Laboratories. Despite a slight recovery in 2010, has accused South Radio in 2011 a loss of € 700,000 and an accumulated debt of € 2.7 million, according to the direction of the station. Negotiations under the aegis of the bank Messier Maris & Associates would be organized around the recovery of debts. The acquisition will be announced to staff on November 15 during a special committee business.

The group Sud Radio (ex-Start), which includes stations like Latina, Voltage, Ado FM but also province Vibration Forum, Wit and FM BlackBox has a total turnover of € 22.7 million for EBITDA of 3.8 million euros. Redemption of its main station should give it a little oxygen. In 2005, Sud Radio was bought for a little less than fifteen million.

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