“We have kept our commitments”., “mission accomplished, “the sequence that is coming to an end is very important”. Around 11pm on Thursday night, the satisfaction was palpable among trade unions and employers’ organizations. After thirteen hours of discussions, they managed to reach an agreement on future unemployment insurance rules and on a series of measures designed to facilitate the return to work for the unemployed. employment for seniors. A relief, even if the leaders of each delegation still have to decide in the next few days whether to sign the document. Initial feedback from Medef and U2P on the employer side, and CFDT, CFTC and FO on the union side, left little room for doubt… If anything, this would be enough to ratify the agreement. The CFE-CGC, the managerial staff union, and the CPME, the SME employers’ organization, are also expected to sign part of the agreement. The CGT, on the other hand, has already said it will abstain.

A relief worthy of the pressure on the shoulders of the delegations. “We had an obligation to succeed”.confirms Frédéric Belouze of the CFTC. Last year, the same representatives were unable to reach a consensus on the employment of seniors, which condemned the whole text. At that point, the State should have taken over. The Prime Minister at the time, Gabriel Attal, had even prepared a severe tightening of the screws on the rights of the unemployed. In the end, the dissolution reshuffled the deck. Once in power, Michel Barnier preferred to give the social partners a second and final chance.

The latter did not let the opportunity pass. However, the negotiations were not easy. In particular, the draconian restrictions imposed by the State through a letter of framework. This demanded, among other things, that the scheme use the surpluses generated by the fall in the unemployment rate solely to pay its share of the government’s debt reduction and to reduce its own debt. Unedic, the scheme’s umbrella organization, is itself burdened with a 60 billion euro hole. Delegations were nonetheless free to improve certain rights, provided they were financed by other means.

Facilitating the employment of seniors

A message received loud and clear by those concerned. The agreement reached this Thursday or Friday takes up the savings targets identified last year. The unions have agreed to monthly payments, which were previously calculated on a daily basis. This means no longer covering the 31st of the month. That’s almost one week less per year. This will cost Unedic several hundred million euros. Similarly, aid for unemployed people starting up or taking over a business has been cut. In addition, there has been a notable tightening of the screws on cross-border workers. In particular, benefits for those working in Switzerland and Luxembourg will be reduced to bring them into line with French standards. Similarly, checks by France travail will be stepped up. According to Unedic’s calculations, these two measures will generate 1.4 billion euros between 2025 and 2028.

In return, the unions have obtained a reduction in the conditions to be met in order to register for the first time with France travail. Five months’ work rather than six in the last two years will be required. Employers, for their part, managed to lower the rate of unemployment insurance contributions they pay from 4.05% to 4%.

The ultimate aim of this new agreement is to adapt certain rules governing compensation for senior citizens in the wake of the 2023 pension reform, which raises the retirement age to 64. Currently, unemployed workers aged 53 and 54 receive 22.5 months of compensation, and those over 55 27 months, compared with 18 months for younger claimants. On January 1, 2025, the age limits will be shifted by two years – 55 and 56 for the former and over 57 for the latter. The unions had called for a gradual shift in line with the increase in the retirement age. But they were not successful.

At the same time, the social partners were invited to find ways of facilitating the employment of these same seniors, to avoid the two-year increase in the retirement age being transformed into two more years of unemployment. It was on this negotiation that the exchanges between the two camps were the most complicated.

Supporting pension reform

For employers, these negotiations were an opportunity to bring out the closets its senior CDI project. Voted during the pension reform, it was censured by the Constitutional Council as a “cavalier législatif”. Renamed in “experience enhancement contract”.It can be offered to unemployed people over 60. If hired, the employee is required to state the date on which he or she will be eligible for full retirement. On that date, the company is authorized to lay him off. However, the CPME’s proposal to offer additional financial benefits to both the company and the employee was opposed by the trade unions. The employers’ organization proposed exempting these contracts from unemployment contributions, and giving the employee the option of supplementing his or her salary with a portion of the unemployment contribution if it was lower than in his or her previous job. “This risked creating low-cost senior employees”.argues Frédéric Belouze.

In return, the unions hoped to facilitate access to phased retirement. This mechanism allows employees to work part-time and combine their work with a portion of their retirement pension. While they succeeded in making the scheme available from the age of 60, employers remained adamant about its enforceability. This means that an employee cannot impose the scheme on his or her employer. Employers can always refuse, provided they justify their decision. “It doesn’t solve the problem, but it’s a small step in the right direction. We’ll need many more.”says Jean-François Foucard of CFE-CGC.

In a final surprise, the social partners agreed at the very end of the discussions to put an end to the three-term limit for employee delegates. But also to lay the foundations for future negotiations on social dialogue within the company. A sign that “social dialogue emerges stronger this evening”.says Yvan Ricordeau of the CFDT.