The negotiation for a “new pact for life at work” is entering choppy waters. After two and a half months of discussions, employers and unions meet on Thursday, March 7, at Medef headquarters, for a new discussion session, during which a first draft of a compromise must be revealed.
This important stage takes place in a tense context, linked to deep disagreements between the protagonists. The government is fueling the trouble, by evoking avenues for reform which overlap with some of the files examined by the social partners. Doubt is beginning to arise about the capacity of employers’ and employees’ organizations to find common ground.
Tempers are heating up around two points. First, a large part of employers – Medef and the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME) – are opposed to the universal time savings account (CETU). Defended for a long time by the CFDT and included in Emmanuel Macron’s program during the 2022 presidential campaign, the measure would allow employees to save days off throughout their career to grant themselves moments of breathing during their professional life. The CETU would be attached to the person, and not to their employment contract, thus giving them the possibility of using it whenever they want, even if they have changed employers.
Small signs of exasperation
THE “Senior permanent contract” constitutes the other big stumbling block. Defended tooth and nail by Medef and CPME, the system takes the form of a specific employment contract: it would be offered to unemployed people from the age of 60, or even earlier, and could be terminated once the employee has reached the age to be entitled to a full pension. The CPME even wants this permanent contract to be accompanied by a reduction in employer contributions. But the unions are against it.
1er March, during the previous negotiating session, the differences of views were reflected in small signs of exasperation. The CFTC left the meeting an hour before the end – which is really not their habit. Eric Courpotin, the head of the Christian central delegation, castigated the attitude of employers’ organizations, which “censor” certain demands, including CETU.
A few hours later, the leaders of the main employee and employer organizations took advantage of a long-planned videoconference meeting to try to restore some serenity. The discussion was “cordial and rather peaceful”according to an employer source.
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