Négocier collectivement les salaires en entreprise : quels effets de la (non-)mobilisation des salarié·es ?

This article deals with wage negotiations in companies in contemporary France, based on statistical analyses of the REPONSE survey (Relations professionnelles et négociations d'entreprise). An original contribution to a growing body of French and English literature, it examines the ways in which employees negotiate (or do not) on this subject with their employers, and whether mobilizing themselves has an influence on the outcome of negotiations. First, the article shows that formalized and collective wage negotiation appears to be completely absent from many companies. Based on responses to an open question put to management and employee representatives, it sheds light on the reasons given by both sides to explain the absence of such negotiations and underlines the importance of the lack of employee mobilization, but also of the refusal of some management to negotiate. Secondly, the contribution shows that when employees mobilize through petitions, walkouts, strikes or demonstrations at the time of these negotiations, management considers that, without these negotiations, its decision on salary increases would have been different than when they did not mobilize.