negotiations stumble over the idea of ​​a permanent contract reserved for older unemployed people

Like a sense of deja vu. On Monday, November 4, unions and employers once again aired their differences on the solutions to apply to reduce unemployment among employees at the end of their careers. Meeting for the third time as part of negotiations devoted to the employment of seniors, the protagonists devoted a good part of their discussions to the so-called “experience enhancement” contract. This project, which deviates from common law in order to facilitate the recruitment of job seekers close to retirement age, is defended by movements representing business leaders. But employee organizations are very reserved, as at the beginning of the year, when social actors examined such an idea during the cycle of talks on a “new pact for life at work”, which ended in a failure, on April 10.

The system put forward today is very close to that which the employers proposed a little over six months ago. This is an experiment, in the form of a permanent contract which is open to unemployed people aged at least 60 – 57 if a sector agreement so stipulates.

For the company, the imagined system has several advantages. First, it has the possibility of ending the employment relationship if its employee has the right to retire and if he has reached the age which allows him to receive a full pension. In this scenario, the company does not have to pay the “specific employer contribution” of 30% on the amount of retirement compensation. In addition, it benefits from a “progressive exemption from unemployment insurance contributions” (these reductions increasing as the employee ages).

” Incomprehension “

As for the contract holder, a rule in his favor is provided: if his remuneration is 30% lower than that he received in his previous position, compensation is paid to him, taking into account unemployment insurance rights. which remain to him.

At the end of the meeting, the union representatives expressed, to the press, their reluctance with regard to such a mechanism, in particular because of the reductions in contributions that it introduces for the benefit of employers. Olivier Guivarch, national secretary of the CFDT, saw this “a breach” in the jobseekers' compensation scheme, which is supposed to be “solidarity and shared”. On behalf of the CGT, Sandrine Mourey expressed her ” incomprehension ” : why should special provisions be made for a category of workers, “while we do not want to stigmatize [les seniors] » ? FO Confederal Secretary, Patricia Drevon declared that her organization remained unfavorable to this option, just as it did at the time of negotiations for a “new pact for life at work”. For his part, the leader of the CFTC, Frédéric Belouze, used the euphemism: “That poses a real question to us”he said, noting that the measure was not “not encrypted”.

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