Collective bargaining in 2001 examined

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The Ministry of Labour's report on collective bargaining in France in 2001, published in June 2002, finds that there was stability in the number of sector and company-level agreements signed. Working time remained the central issue in bargaining, but pay was an increasingly important theme in 2001.

On 24 June 2002, the National Collective Bargaining Commission (Commission nationale de la négociation collective) reviewed the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity annual report on collective bargaining in the previous year, as it does each summer.

Intersectoral bargaining

Intersectoral collective bargaining was more dynamic in 2001 than in 2000. All told, 39 texts were signed at this level, compared with 25 in 2000 (FR0108161F), 34 in 1999 (FR0007178F) and 33 in 1998 (FR9907198F).

Among the major agreements reached in 2001 was the accord signed on 10 February (FR0103136N) by the main employers' organisations - the Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF), the General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes entreprises, CGPME) and the Craftwork Employers' Association (Union professionnelle artisanale, UPA) - and two representative trade union confederations - the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) - on funding arrangements for retirement at the age of 60 under the supplementary pension schemes for managerial/professional staff and other staff, AGIRC and ARRCO respectively. This agreement (and annexes to it adopted subsequently) provide for a major internal overhaul of AGIRC and ARRCO with a view to creating a 'one-stop shop' system by the end of 2002.

In addition to the increase in the number of intersectoral agreements in 2001, it should also be pointed out that talks launched in preceding years on particular issues under the 'industrial relations overhaul' initiative continued during 2001 (FR0002143F and FR0102134F). One notable result was a 'common position ' on ways and means for developing collective bargaining ('position commune sur les voies et moyens de l'approfondissement de la négociation collective') concluded on 16 July 2001 [FR0108163F]. However, some of the talks started under the 'industrial relations overhaul' project failed to result in agreement, a case in point being discussions on the issue of vocational training - the social partners temporarily suspended talks on this topic in October 2001 as no agreement could be reached (FR0111123F).

Another significant development in intersectoral bargaining in 2001 was a major agreement on developing social dialogue in the crafts industries, signed on 12 December by UPA and the five representative union confederations (FR0201143N).

Sectoral bargaining

Sector-level collective bargaining continued its upward trend in 2001, following on from strong growth in 2000. There were 897 texts signed at this level in 2001, up from 870 in 2000 and 761 in 1999. Most of the increase was at national sectoral level, where 607 texts were reached in 2001 compared with 582 in 2000. However, sectoral bargaining at subnational level remained vibrant, at a level roughly equivalent to that of the previous year. Regional-level sectoral bargaining slowed somewhat, and département-level and local sectoral bargaining remained stable. The downward trend in subnational bargaining observed since 1995 seems to have levelled off since 2000. The resurgence - observed in the Ministry's 2000 report on collective bargaining - of sectoral pay bargaining, which often occurs at local level, partly explains this stability.

With regard to the proportion of all sectoral agreements signed by the various trade unions, the percentage signed by the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) remained similar to 2000, with the union signing 32.3% of agreements in 2001, compared with 32.5% in 2000 and 37.5% in 1999 (a considerable increase on the previous year). CFDT, CFTC and the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l'encadrement-Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC) all increased considerably the percentage of agreements signed - by between 1.6% and 1.8% - though with major geographical disparities. The percentage of sector-level agreements signed by the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) fell across the board. This drop was most marked at the national sectoral level, where the percentage of accords signed fell from 70.9% in 2000 to 67.4% in 2001.

In terms of the issues covered by sector-level bargaining, the proportion of all agreements made up by working time accords dropped in 2001. Although the absolute number of agreements signed on this topic remained almost unchanged from the previous year (107 in 2001 and 106 in 2000), pay bargaining took up an increasing share of all negotiating activity in 2001. The number of wage-related amendments to agreements signed in 2001 stood at 407, compared with 366 in 2000 and 258 in 1999. This increase in sectoral pay bargaining was most significant in the sectors with the largest workforces: in 2001, 153 wage-related agreements were reached in sectors with over 10,000 employees, compared with 128 in 2000. Overall, many more sectors either struck pay agreements or saw employers issue recommendations to this end than in the previous year - 142 sectors in 2001 (covering 71% of the total workforce) compared with 113 (53%) in 2000.

In addition to pay and working time issues, priority areas for sector-level negotiations in 2001 were once again vocational training and apprenticeships. Furthermore, gender equality in the workplace has now become an issue for sectoral bargaining, with a total of 12 new agreements or amendments to existing agreements signed on this topic in 2001.

Company-level bargaining

Company-level bargaining remained strong in 2001, with approximately 35,000 agreements signed (provisional figures), following strong growth in the late 1990s and 2000 (when 35,146 agreements were signed). The reduction and reorganisation of working time continued to be a dominant issue, featuring in approximately two-thirds of agreements, but lost some ground. Pay issues are increasingly the focus of company-level collective bargaining, but are very often linked to other issues, especially working time reduction. A mere 16% of wage-related agreements deal exclusively with pay.

Traditionally, small businesses register very few agreements with the labour authorities. However, the move to the 35-hour working week, formalised in the two 'Aubry laws' (FR0001137F), requires small and medium-sized firms to comply with a prescribed negotiation and registration procedure for agreements if they want to be eligible for the financial assistance for working time cuts provided for in the legislation. Consequently, 50% of company-level agreements in 2001 covered operations with a workforce of under 50, up from 40% in 2000. This percentage increases to 74% in 2001 and 50% in 2000 when working time reduction agreements are considered in isolation. The development of the negotiation process in small and medium-sized companies resulted in a major increase in 2001 - unlike in 2000 - in the use of the scheme allowing employees 'mandated' by trade unions (rather than trade union delegates proper) to conclude company collective agreements provided for in the Aubry legislation (FR9807123F). Seven out of 10 company-level agreements on the reduction of working time signed in 2001 were made possible through this procedure. CFDT and CFTC made the greatest use of the mandating scheme in 2001, as was the case in 2000. However, the various trade unions are not moving at the same pace on this issue - see table 1 below.