2023-11-15 11:18:42
Social parity is still moving, but it is not in great shape. The agreement reached on Friday, November 10 between employers (Medef, CPME and U2P) and a majority of union centers (CFDT, CFTC and FO) on the unemployment insurance system may give the illusion that the social partners are still able to negotiate and reach compromises to adapt one of the pillars of the social protection system. But this start on Unédic is a sham. This is a minimal agreement, obtained under constraint, which essentially consists of preventing the State from taking back control of a system that is running out of steam.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Unemployment insurance: an agreement on the line which offers a reprieve from paritarianism
The compromise is, by the signatories’ own admission, nothing revolutionary. It boils down to a minimal reduction in charges for businesses and a slight improvement in compensation conditions for seasonal workers and first-time entrants to the job market, all accompanied by a few relatively painless savings measures.
The result is commensurate with the extremely narrow margins of maneuver that the State had left to the social partners. Since it was a question of not going back on previous unemployment insurance reforms and not adding expenses that were not offset by new revenue, it was illusory to expect mountains and wonders from this negotiation which ends with paritarianism reduced to achievements.
Angry subjects ruled out
The employers and the unions had only one latitude: to agree at all costs not to give the government the pretext of nationalizing one of the last bastions of paritarianism. This logic has led to the temporary sidelining of angry subjects, such as the adaptation of the unemployment compensation system to the consequences of the pension reform adopted in the spring. The discussion is postponed until later.
The copy made by the social partners must now be submitted for government approval. For the latter, it seems politically complicated to go into confrontation, even if some within it were only waiting for a failure of the negotiations to definitively regain control of Unédic.
Far from marking a rebirth of paritarianism, the episode rather illustrates the twilight situation in which it finds itself. Despite the agreement, the State retains a preponderant place, which does not seem to be diminishing any time soon. Even if, in the past, agreements have resulted in notable efforts to balance the finances of the unemployment insurance system, it is obvious that, faced with the growing difficulties in financing social protection, the social partners have had to struggling to take their responsibilities by negotiating unpopular good management agreements, hence the government’s temptation to take back control.
The Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension scheme, however, shows that they are capable of preserving the financial sustainability of a system for which they are accountable by requiring efforts from their beneficiaries. Within the framework of Unédic, the unemployment insurance debt remains guaranteed by the State, which does not encourage people to take responsibility.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Supplementary pensions: to avoid the “drain” from Agirc-Arrco, unions and employers agree to work on a financial gesture
In a reflex of survival, paritarianism has gained time without guaranteeing its future. This will be one of the main issues of the negotiations in 2024 on the governance of Unédic. Without a start to revitalize themselves and break out of their old patterns, social partners risk seeing themselves confined to the role of spectators.
#paritarianism #reduced #acquisitions