Mdespite the efforts of the executive to try to show that the pension reform is fair and essential, the French refuse to work two more years. And, from a work perspective, they have at least three good reasons to display their hostility to this prospect.
First of all, the arduous working conditions are far from being compatible with advancing age. Research work in ergonomics (The work in a hurry, by Corine Gaudart and Serge Volkoff, Les Petits Matins, 2022) have shown that time constraints, urgent work and the lack of leeway pose particular problems for aging workers. Yet it is precisely the intensification of work that best characterizes the evolution of working conditions over the past thirty years.
According to surveys by the Department of Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares) of the Ministry of Labor, between 1984 and 2019, the proportion of employees whose work pace is imposed by “standards or deadlines in one hour at most” increased from 5% to 23%; that of workers whose rhythm depends on a “external request requiring an immediate response” increased from 28% to 55%.
One of the first concerns of employees faced with the decline in the legal retirement age seems to be whether they will be able to keep up with the pace imposed by the organization of work. Moreover, the older they get, the more the answer to this question is negative, especially for workers and employees. According to the very first results ofa study conducted by the Evrest observatory, after the age of 60, half of the workers and employees doubt that their state of health will allow them, within two years, to continue their current job. And we know from other scientific work that these doubts are often justified and suggest the onset of incapacity. With serious risks of job loss and a long period of unemployment.
“Stagnant situation”
The second reason for refusing to work until the age of 64 is to be found in European comparisons. The higher starting age in many countries of the Union would justify, for the executive, that France moves back its own. Except that the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and her Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, are careful not to recognize that, among European countries, France is at the bottom of the pack in the field of the quality of working conditions.
In any case, this is shown by the survey carried out on the subject by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions among 72,000 workers in the 27 Member States and 9 neighboring countries (United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland…). France ranks 28eaccording to the work quality index; 5% of employees in France consider their working conditions to be extremely restrictive11% characterize them as very tense and 22% as rather tense.
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