Posted Dec 15 2022 at 19:21Updated 15 Dec. 2022 at 19:52
The pension reform will be an opportunity to “change scale” to make certain jobs less arduous, assures the government. This Thursday, the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, clarified how the executive intends to better support people performing arduous jobs, in particular through the use of a prevention and training fund.
The government, which intends to postpone the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 or even 65, decided on Monday to everyone’s surprise to postpone until January 10 the presentation of its reform normally scheduled for this week. This period should allow progress on the measures of age and duration of contribution. “We are open and are examining different scenarios,” assured Olivier Dussopt, during a progress report to the press.
100,000 early departures
These extensions must also be an opportunity to move forward on the subject of “preventing professional wear and tear”, insisted the minister. The problem of arduous work is closely monitored by the unions and in particular the CFDT, even if they are still as determined to take to the streets after the holidays to protest against the reform.
“One out of six retirements is anticipated for reasons of professional wear and tear, no one can resolve it,” argued Olivier Dussopt. Every year 100,000 people retire early because they are deemed unfit for work, he said.
To remedy this situation, the government suggests the creation of a “professional wear and tear prevention fund”. This should finance prevention and training plans implemented by the branches for difficult jobs. To target and finance their actions, the professional branches could rely on the social security branch (workplace accidents, occupational diseases) which is in surplus.
Reinforced medical follow-up
These plans could take into account situations where workers are forced to adopt awkward postures, carry heavy loads or endure vibrations. Since 2017, these special working conditions are no longer taken into account in the context of the hardship account allowing workers to retire early. The reintegration of these so-called ergonomic criteria into the analysis of arduousness is a battle horse of the unions.
The CFDT, at the forefront of this subject, would like workers affected by vibrations, heavy loads, or painful postures to be able to retire earlier by obtaining points that contribute to their hardship account. However, the government still seems reluctant to go down this path. This Thursday, the Minister of Labor proposed “reinforced medical monitoring in the most exposed professions”, to “prevent” and “repair”.
On this issue of hardship, the government has indicated that it wishes to pay “special attention” to the care professions. It also reaffirmed its desire to adapt the long career system allowing those who started working very early to leave before the legal retirement age. The so-called “very long” careers, which can leave four years before the legal age, should represent “several tens of thousands” of departures per year.
A sanction for the bad pupils of the index
The executive also wants to wield the stick to push companies to keep seniors employed. He had already mentioned the creation of an index on the employment of seniors, an indicator reminiscent of the one that already exists to promote professional equality between men and women. This “index will be negotiated in each professional branch to take account of its age pyramid and published in each company with more than 50 employees”, specified the Minister of Labor.
Above all, Olivier Dussopt mentioned the idea of creating “a penalty for those who do not fulfill this obligation of publicity”. The prospect of sanction on this subject is enough to tense up in the employers’ camp, where it is assured that it is difficult to create a relevant indicator in terms of employment of seniors. In the event that the index would show a bad result in terms of employment of seniors, the minister also mentioned “an obligation for discussion or social negotiation”.