Posted Jan 5, 2023, 7:03 PMUpdated on Jan 5, 2023 at 7:18 PM
While the spotlight was on Matignon, another series of meetings with the unions, less publicized, took place at the Ministry of the Public Service. Stanislas Guerini received the representatives of the CGT, FO and the CFDT on Wednesday as well as those of Unsa on Thursday. It will be the turn of those of FSU, Solidaires, CFE-CGC and the Autonomous Federation of Public Service this Friday.
It is a question of “closing the consultation before the presentation of the reform project”, Tuesday, one explains in the entourage of Stanislas Guerini, stressing that “there are still points at the arbitration”.
Some “interesting trade-offs”
The fundamental disagreement obviously remains intact. On the side of civil servants too, union opposition to raising the retirement age is frontal. “It hits everyone,” explained at the end of her interview Céline Verzeletti of the Federal Union of State Trade Unions CGT. “The most affected will be the most fragile, the least qualified and a majority of women”, adds Mylène Jacquot, of the CFDT-Public Service. “Our main objective, we told the minister, is to defeat the reform,” insisted Christian Grolier, of the FGF-FO.
The trade unionist nevertheless mentioned certain “interesting arbitrations”. “We try to improve everything we can,” sums up Luc Farré, secretary general of the Unsa civil service. Unlike the Prime Minister, who did not provide any details during her interviews, the Minister of Public Service “learned a few things” about the so-called “sweet” part of the reform to the unions, confirmed her interlocutors. Without this being able to “constitute a counterpart to the increase in the retirement age”, insists Mylène Jacquot.
First measure: while it had been envisaged for a time to introduce it but with restrictions, the mechanism for progressive retirement from the private sector would be traced in the three public services. Provided that the employer does not oppose it, it allows an employee to reduce his working time from the age of 60, the loss of salary being partially compensated by a pension portion.
Active categories
Second major subject: the active categories, these trades whose exercise allows an early retirement. The government has already announced that they would be maintained, but that their minimum starting age would be increased like the legal age. Stanislas Guerini specified that agents who belonged to several active categories during their career (for example in the case of a police officer who later became a customs officer) will be able to combine their years of active service in order to leave earlier. This is currently not possible.
Above all, unlike in 2010 when this period had increased by two years when the legal retirement age was raised from 60 to 62, there will be no increase in the requirement for length of active service to be able to to leave sooner. On the other hand, with regard to contract workers in the public service who benefit neither from the active categories nor from the hardship account in force in the private sector, the unions are pessimistic about their chances of obtaining a change, as well as about their request. abandonment of automatic retirement in the event of disability even if the agent does not have all his quarters.