Senate report pushes for reform of vocational training system
A Senate report, published in July 2007, proposes a reform of the vocational training system. The key measure proposed is the creation of a ‘training savings account’, offering employees the right to training during their working life. Employer organisations and trade unions oppose the idea of abolishing company contributions to the training plan, as well as the merger of the National Employment Agency and the Union for Employment in Industry and Commerce.
After six months of discussion, the French Senate delivered a report to the Prime Minister on 11 July 2007 which underlined the urgent need for a reform of the vocational training system. The report paints a rather bleak picture of the existing schemes which get bogged down ‘in complexity, contradict one another in corporatisms, and come up against barriers’.
This current report is the latest in a long line of official reports, white papers and other expert reports dating back over more than 15 years. It supports the opinions of the vast majority of vocational training stakeholders who criticise the ‘system’s inability to fight inequality’. The senators’ main guideline is to make people responsible for themselves by individualising the right to training throughout their working lives.
In December 2003, employer and trade union organisations concluded a national multi-industry agreement which redefined the various training schemes and created the individual right to training (droit individuel à la formation, DIF) (FR0610039I). In April 2007, the ‘Individual right to training’ Steering Evaluation Committee adopted a work method and a schedule for implementation. An evaluation report was planned for the end of 2007. During 2008, detailed analysis of each chapter of the agreement will be carried out with a view to creating ‘a formalised, quantitative and qualitative report on the implementation of the measures contained in the agreement’.
Recommendations of Senate
The proposals put forward by the Senate report to reform the system focus on three concepts: the individual, partnerships and community-based schemes.
The key recommendation of the report is to set up a ‘training savings account’, which should put the individual at the heart of training policy, as well as open up access to training. This scheme would be available to the person regardless of status, and would be managed by a national body. The account could be ‘paid into’ by the state, but also by the employee (by using his or her right to individual educational leave), or by the company (through the individual right to training) (FR0311103F). On the other hand, the report proposes scrapping the current system of compulsory company contributions to training plans, amounting to 0.9% of the payroll. The senators also requested that the individual right to training should be transferable between companies; however, this was not the case under the 2003 agreement.
Partnerships are sought in the promotion of vocational training and employment; it should be ‘made systematic and organised around clearly identified leaders’. It is up to the state to ensure the equity of the training system throughout the country, and to set the major national objectives in this regard.
In order to strengthen the link between training and employment, the plan to merge the National Employment Agency (Agence nationale pour l’emploi, ANPE) with the National Union for Employment in Industry and Commerce (Union nationale interprofessionnelle pour l’emploi dans l’industrie et le commerce, UNEDIC), incorporating the National Association for Adult Vocational Training (Association national pour la formation professionnelle des adultes, AFPA), should be carried out. Furthermore, in an effort to strengthen this link, the grouping together of the joint sector training bodies (Organismes paritaires collecteurs agréés, OPCA), responsible for collecting and pooling training funds, is recommended in order to personalise employee information and support services.
At regional level, as part of the decentralisation process which began over 20 years ago, the regional councils should see their powers reinforced. Finally, the report highlights the labour market as the key area for community initiatives, where a local training council, headed by a representative of the regional council, would be given the task of analysing labour market needs and thus suggesting specific guidance and training solutions.
Reactions to reform proposal
Trade unions’ response
The trade unions have welcomed the majority of the recommendations contained in the Senate report, ranging from the transferability of the individual right to training between companies to system governance. The proposal to set up a training savings account also met with their approval, as long as its actual workings, including the basis for contributions and decisions on training requests, do not wipe out the benefits acquired by employees.
However, the trade unions have vigorously and unanimously rejected two of the measures contained in the report. They condemn the abolition of the 0.9% compulsory company contributions and are concerned about the effect of companies pulling out of the training plan. The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) fears that ‘employees’ employability will only depend on themselves’, and that the employers’ obligation to support its employees in adapting to a given post will be reduced. The trade unions also object to the proposed ANPE–UNEDIC merger. For instance, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) considers the merger to be a ‘political move’, as it is a labour market and not a training issue. It seems that only the National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA) is in favour of this project. More generally, the trade union organisations have cast doubts over whether the report will actually be followed up.
Employers’ response
Surprisingly, the employer organisations have expressed the most concern about the reform measures contained in the Senate report, and in particular regarding the abolition of the obligatory contribution to the training plan. Described as ‘a trap’ by the Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF), this measure, as underlined by the General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes entreprises, CGPME), would not actually mean that the contribution completely disappears. Instead, it would be moved from a scheme managed by the companies, such as training plans, to a joint decision-making scheme between employees and employers, such as the individual right to training or the individual educational leave schemes.
The employer organisations also oppose the merger of ANPE and UNEDIC, and have serious reservations about the process of regrouping the joint sector training bodies under their control. Furthermore, MEDEF opposes the principle of the transferability of the individual right to training.
Commentary
The social partners would like the necessary developments in the governance of vocational training to take place within a negotiated framework, as has been the case since the beginning of the 1970s. Some of the measures contained in the Senate report could be discussed as part of the negotiations on employment security (FR0710029I), which got underway at the end of October 2007.
Catherine Vincent, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)