Employers and at least two unions finally reached an agreement on unemployment insurance on Friday evening, November 10, after difficult negotiations on compensation rules from January 2024.
“After nine negotiating sessions and despite the requirements of the framework document [du gouvernement en amont], agreement has been reached »welcomed Medef’s representative, Hubert Mongon.
Just before that, the CFDT negotiator, Olivier Guivarch, mentioned a “difficult negotiations from the start”, had reported A “positive review” of his delegation. “ We are satisfied that we have reached a draft agreement, possibly because blocks to new rights have been lifted”, Mr. Guivarch rejoiced further. The text must still be approved by the organization’s national office on November 16.
“We are ready to sign it, now it needs to be approved” by the government, said Eric Courpotin, his counterpart at the CFTC.
For FO “the red lines have fallen”
FO said it was waiting for its confederal office’s decision on Monday, but noted it “the red lines have fallen”said negotiator Michel Beaugas.
The government will do that ” to study “ in turn, the Ministry of Labor confirmed the compatibility of the agreement drawn up by the social partners with the objectives it set for them in its framework letter. For Medef, the agreement reached is “perfectly compliant” is consistent with the framework document and results in a balance between new expenditure and income.
Two unions, the CGT and the CFE-CGC, have indicated that they will not be among the signatories. “For us the balance is not there”even if “The employers have withdrawn most of their provocations”said Denis Gravouil (CGT).
The CFE-CGC left the discussion table in the evening. Its negotiator, Jean-François Foucard, criticized the maintenance of the reduction in benefits for high incomes, a common thread for him. But this degression, which concerns those who receive a daily allowance of more than 91.02 euros per day – corresponding to a gross salary before job loss of 4,850 euros – will no longer be applied from the age of 55, compared to 57 years so far.
According to the agreement reached, job seekers who register for the first time can receive compensation after five months of work in the past twenty-four months, instead of six months now. “A concrete and fair measure”for the CFDT.
On the other hand, the changes in the compensation conditions for seniors due to the pension reform, which the government wanted to see included in the agreement, were referred to negotiations on the employment of seniors, despite the initial desire of the employers’ organizations to include them .
0.05% reduction in employer contributions
The bosses, who wanted to cut their unemployment insurance premiums from 4.05% to 3.95%, also accepted a cut half as big, at 0.05%. The text also limits the scope of the bonus-malus system, a system criticized by employers that increases the contributions of bosses who use short contracts more than average.
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The government had given the social partners until November 15 to finalize the matter. Without this compromise he would have regained control. He had carefully formulated the debates in a document sent at the beginning of August: no return on the 2019 reform, which in particular tightened the conditions for access to unemployment benefits, nor on that of 2023, which modulates the conditions for unemployment. on the labor market situation and reduced the duration of compensation by 25%.
Several negotiators on the union side complained about some form of “guardianship” and a “parasitism” from the government about the discussions. “We have come to the end of a hybrid system” with this interventionism, Mr Mongon also judged.
Additional financial complexity: The executive has planned additional income from unemployment insurance to finance support and training measures for the unemployed. These form punctures “a double difficulty”underlines the draft agreement, calling on “A matter of principle” and regarding Unédic’s debt reduction goals.
The topic of entertainment workers came up in the discussions. The employers initially wanted to tighten their compensation conditions, despite the agreement reached by industry representatives and opposition from trade unions. Ultimately, it is the status quo that prevails, i.e. maintaining the current rules, but without the improvements negotiated by the sector.