The right-wing dominated Senate voted on Monday, against the advice of the government and despite the opposition of the left, the creation of a new type of indefinite term contract of “end of career” to promote the recruitment of older employees at least 60 years old.
The senators adopted by 202 votes against 123 an amendment to this effect brought by the rapporteurs LR Ren-Paul Savary and Elisabeth Doineau (centrist) to the pension reform project, whose one of the main measures raised from 62 to 64 at the starting age.
With this new CDI seniors, the employer would be exempt from family contributions. He could terminate the contract by retiring the employee who meets the conditions to benefit from a full pension. He would therefore not be required to keep it until he is 70, which today represents a brake on the hiring of seniors, according to the rapporteurs.
The current employment tools for seniors are not enough, said Ren-Paul Savary. France is below the European average for employment of 55-64 year olds (56% against 60.5%).
Fear of a windfall effect
The rapporteur specified that the amendment had been drafted on the proposal of a number of social partners, who would be responsible for defining the terms of application, branch by branch. The Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt gave an unfavorable opinion on this new CDI. He particularly questioned his targeting.
I fear a windfall effect that leads our family branch in the red, for his part said the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal. 100,000 permanent contracts are signed each year for employees over 60, he explained. If all were signed with the new contract, the cost is estimated at 800 million euros for the family branch. And could even reach up to 2.2 billion euros in the event of a windfall effect.
The leader of the Les Républicains senators Bruno Retailleau formally challenged the cost put forward by the government, stressing that this amendment reveals one of the greatest challenges of this reform. What would be the point of raising the legal retirement age if we do nothing about the employment of seniors?, he asked. It is a direct order from the Medef, denounced the left-wing socialist Yan Chantrel.
We do not understand why we are always obliged to give gifts to companies so that they recruit people, declared Monique Lubin (PS). In the night of Sunday Monday, the Senate had approved the creation proposed by the government of a senior index in companies, on the place of the oldest, but only for those with more than 300 employees.
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