The Introduction of a Wage Bonus in a Workshop of the Paris Métro

Abstract

This chapter investigates the introduction of a new rule, not at a general level, as in the case of wage disindexation in France in the 1980s, but at a microeconomic level in the Atelier de Maintenance des Equipements Electroniques (AME1) of the Paris Métro. It focuses in particular on the strategies deployed by management as they sought to gain acceptance for a wage rule that aimed to increase labour productivity. The general principles underpinning this rule were laid down beforehand by the managing director of the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) (the Parisian Transport Company) and the management of the Rail Rolling Stock Department (in French, Matériel Roulant Ferroviaire MRF2), whose 3000 or so employees were all to be subject to the new rule.This case is very interesting, for at least two reasons. First, it can be used to analyse the entire development of a rule, from its most general expression to its implementation on the ground. In this instance, since the MRF and the general management of the Métro were able to formulate general principles only, it fell to the operational units to define and negotiate the conditions under which these principles were to be applied.