Posted Oct 13, 2022 7:13 PM
The conflict in the refineries sharpens social tensions and after the announcement of requisitions, the consultation on pensions lost one of its actors: the CGT which suspended its participation. But discussions are continuing with the others and this Friday promises to be busy with the arrival at the Ministry of Labor of FO, FSU and Unsa.
The offices of the Minister of Labor and the Prime Minister are carrying out a demining operation there after the abandonment of the option of immediate reform. They seem to be “listening… At least for the moment”, according to Pascale Coton, in charge of pensions at the CFTC. A document on the employment of seniors and hardship, the subject of this first round of discussions, was added to the debate. But everyone is invited to make their proposals. “It was convivial, we were able to exchange and formulate them without them being disputed, which does not however guarantee that they will be considered”, notes Gérard Mardiné, of the CFE-CGC.
Demining operation
There is no question of the government side electrifying the debate. This will come soon enough with the question of the closure of special schemes and that of raising the legal retirement age.
On the side of the unions, beyond the frontal opposition to raising the retirement age to 65, we are aware of the determination of the executive on this point and the observation is simple: in addition to the issue of age discrimination and the health consequences of arduous work, everything that can be gained in terms of the activity rate of seniors will lower the financing needs of the scheme, an argument put forward by the executive to increase three years the legal retirement age. Hence the fact that on the government side, there is no despair of finding “agreements” on subjects such as those on which the discussion has begun.
On the union side, we are of course pleading for a conditionality of aid to employment criteria for seniors and for the return to the hardship account of the criteria removed during the first five-year term of Emmanuel Macron. But not only. We must not wait for the employee to be worn out, “we must create a specific right to the retraining of employees with a difficult job, which could be supplemented by the Accidents at work and Occupational disease branch”, estimates Michel Beaugas, of Force Ouvrière . And during this retraining, “it will be necessary to take into account the drop in income that the loss of bonuses associated with difficult jobs can cause”, adds Pascale Coton.
Don’t Forget the Officials
Be careful not to forget the civil servants, will alert the number one of the FSU, also received on Friday. “The question of professional wear and tear also arises in the public service and there has been no more gradual retirement since 2010”, underlines Benoit Teste. The subject should also be raised next week when the Minister of Public Service, Stanilas Guerini, is to receive the unions.
For its part, employers are approaching the first round of discussions with great caution, fearing that new constraints will be imposed on them. “We know that they are going to have to put compensation for 65 years in the law”, explains one of the officials received, who like the others is upwind against the idea of imposing a senior index on companies and pleads for a reduction in social security contributions for older employees. But business representatives also welcome “a very open exchange”.
The stakes are not cast: the social partners have been told that if they so wish, new meetings could be organized and that in any case, they could transmit their proposals for expertise. If a new cycle devoted to equity is to start on November 7, this “will not prevent” continuing to work on the previous one.