2023-10-26 14:28:20
Published on Oct 26, 2023 at 4:20 p.m.Updated Oct 26, 2023 at 4:28 p.m.
Two weeks to find a balanced agreement, even at a minimum, and, thus, safeguard one of the last parts of joint management, at least in appearance: this is the time frame available to the social partners to reach a conclusion by November 10 in their negotiations with a view to the next unemployment insurance agreement, knowing that the government’s framework letter leaves them very little room for maneuver.
On the occasion of their seventh session Wednesday evening and after a round table where each organization recalled its demands, the employers put a draft agreement on the table. A detailed plan in truth which classifies all possible negotiation themes into three chapters: adjustment of compensation rules without calling into question government reforms (degression, calculation of the allowance, countercyclicality, etc.), competitiveness of companies and measures of simplification.
Haro on punctures
The first stumbling block, the preamble to the text recalls that the social partners “cannot accept” the more than 11 billion deductions from Unédic revenues that the executive wants to impose on them to finance France travail and apprenticeship. The future surpluses of the system must be used as a priority to reduce the debt and/or to finance new rights for the unemployed, argue unions and employers, keen to maintain control of the kitty. Except that the PLFSS 2024 has already included a drain of 2 billion and that Bercy is looking for money everywhere.
Another structuring point of the negotiation concerns the employer unemployment contribution rate, currently 4.05%. The employers have not hidden from the start their desire to lower it. We now know by how much, or approximately: a first step of 0.05%, non-negotiable, this additional social charge having been accepted in 2017 for three years. Then a second step to negotiate this one, which should make it possible to drop below 4%, indicated Hubert Mongon, leader for Medef.
Mandatory balance
Why not, retort the unions, if there are new rights for the unemployed or a relaxation of the parameters of the government’s reforms. They are therefore asking for a return to 4 versus 6 of the minimum number of months of work to be compensated at least for young people, the elimination of the degression of allowances for high salaries or even adjustments in the event of termination of the trial period.
Except that these new rights or adjustments to the compensation rules amount to additional expenses, while the reduction in the employer contribution rate represents at least 350 million euros less revenue and the government has imposed a strict framework: between what will be removed and what will be added, the new Unédic agreement must be financially balanced, otherwise it will not be approved.
To give itself a little breathing space, the CFTC is imagining two additional revenue avenues. Firstly, the increase from 4 times to 8 times the Social Security ceiling for employer unemployment contributions. The result is 370 million more in the Unédic coffers. What employers can only oppose, refusing any increase in labor costs.
The second avenue concerns the “surplus profits” of companies whose contribution rate has been reduced by virtue of the application of the bonus-malus system on short contracts. Unédic has identified the problem but has not yet quantified it.
Finally, there remains the taking into account of the increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years by shifting all the age limits on which certain compensation rules depend. The employers want it, determined in particular to put an end to the excesses of “Unédic early retirement”. The unions, for their part, will not give up until the conclusion of the next negotiations on the continued employment of seniors.
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