PARIS (Reuters) - France's CFDT union joined two smaller unions on Thursday in signing an agreement with employers for implementing President Francois Hollande's plan to boost companies' competitiveness.
Battling high unemployment and struggling to revive the euro zone's second-biggest economy, Hollande offered in January to cut companies' payroll tax in exchange for committing to hiring targets in what he called a "responsibility pact".
The CFDT, one of France's biggest unions, and two smaller ones fleshed out a blueprint last week for implementing the deal which stopped short of fixing numerical hiring targets at the national level, leaving that to individual sectors to work out.
CFDT head Laurent Berger said his union had officially signed the agreement after a vote by union officials, following in the footsteps of the CFE-CGC and CFTC unions.
The three unions' signatures removes a major hurdle for Hollande's plan to reduce the cost of labour, as it means a majority of unions are on board.
The militant and powerful CGT and Force Ouvriere unions have refused to sign up as they reject the principle of a tax cut in exchange for hiring.
Hollande's payroll tax cut plan was part of pro-business shift in his economic policy after he failed to live up to a pledge to get unemployment on downward trend by the end of last year.
Driving Hollande's popularity ratings to lows never seen for a president in modern France, jobless claims are running at a record high over 3.3 million while the unemployment rate tops 10 percent of the workforce.
Hollande aims to phase out 30 billion euros (25.0 billion pounds) in payroll tax between 2015 and 2017 in a move aimed at making it less expensive to employ people in France.
(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Alison Williams)
