Regional involvement in vocational training

The social partners in the Franche-Comté region have signed, with the exception of the CGT union, a renewal of an agreement on vocational training. Introduced in 2009 as an experiment, the results of the initial agreement led to more workers being trained and lower levels of redundancies. The new agreement has now extended the reach of the initiative. This is an example of cooperation between local social partners in reaction to inevitable restructuring in the region.

The regional experiment

On 5 May 2009 the social partners of the French region Franche-Comté signed up to a pilot agreement on developing life-long vocational training. It was called the ‘Interprofessional Protocol for a franc-comtoise experiment for those workers affected by the crisis’, and was based on the preamble of the National Interprofessional Agreement of 7 January 2009 (1.1Mb PDF).

This regional agreement was finalised at the end of 2008 by the representatives of:

1. the three employers’ organisations;

• the Movement of French Enterprises (MEDEF);

• The General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Real Employers (CGPME);

• The Craftwork Employers’ Association (UPA);

1. the five representative unions:

• General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (CGT-FO);

• the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT);

• the General Confederation of Labour (CGT);

• The French Christian Workers' Confederation (CFTC);

• The French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff – General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (CFE-CGC);

1. the government at national and regional levels, with the support of several active sectors.

The agreement was fixed for three years and had three objectives for dealing with the impact of the economic crisis:

• safeguarding employment and workers’ wages;

• maintaining and developing the skills of company employees;

• maintaining and strengthening companies to deal with the crisis and prepare them for the end of the crisis.

One of the principle aims of this experiment was to offer training to workers during periods of partial unemployment when they had been laid off as a result of the economic crisis. It gave priority to industrial companies in the region employing between 50 and 250 people.

10,000 workers covered by the agreement

In a common declaration on 7 May 2010, the signatories reviewed the agreement. They emphasised that their action had benefited employees who had taken part in professional training and, above all, workers from groups that would have been less likely to be offered training. It had also had an impact on the number of employees kept in work.

‘Seventy-two companies were covered by the agreement and more than 10,000 have paid into the fund. We have had to dismiss only 1,000 workers in Franche-Comté,’ said Michel Bergeret, President of the regional CGPME, speaking to the news agency AFP Liaisons Sociales.

In 2009 more than 12,000 workers took part in training courses and the companies involved recorded 2,319,750 hours of short-time working and 366,000 hours of training. In total 73% of production operators were trained and 75% now want to undertake further training following the initial pilot programme.

Signing a new agreement for 2010-2014

Satisfied with this first pilot, the social partners (except for CGT) signed a renewal of the agreement, extending it to several other measures aimed at increasing the security of professional careers. This time the agreement will cover a longer period (2011-2014) and will receive financing to the tune of €20m from the region, as well as the introduction of an operations manager who will develop the agreement on the ground.

What has been agreed

The main objectives of the scheme are as follows.

• To maintain employment within companies during periods of under-activity. The measure introduced in 2009, covered the period 2010-2011. It included a quota of one third of places in the scheme reserved for small and medium enterprises. The region will also finance 450 courses for the least qualified workers.

• To increase the number of vocational training contracts (FR0311103F). The region will co-finance 6,000 contracts, roughly double the current number. For any young person (up to 30 years of age) employed on such a contract, the employer will be able to call on financial support of up to €3,500 (in addition to premiums paid by government), provided that the contract has no fixed term, guarantees more than 450 hours of training and that the recipient worker comes from a disadvantaged area of the region.

• To guarantee courses for temporary workers. The social partners are acting to engage those people who are often neglected by public policies. The agreement envisages 1,000 courses over the next three years, making it possible for individuals to alternate through periods of temporary work and periods of training, thus safeguarding their training over three years.

• To support internal mobility by redeployment of workers into other posts, as well as maintaining and even improving the skills of workers. The agreement envisages interventions in about 40 target companies. Specific training packages – beyond what is expected by the company and the law – are planned for 500 workers, at an average rate of 30 hours per worker;

• To maintain employment among older workers while increasing the recruitment of young people on permanent contracts. The social partners hope to support 1,000 older workers to adapt their working time two years before retirement, cutting it by 50%, while still paying them up to 80% of their wages over the last two years. Young people will be tutored by experts to help them make a success of their new start in the company.

Commentary

This agreement is exemplary in the sense that it responds to recommendations of research carried out at European level and by the European Commission, aimed at encouraging local actors to engage in permanent measures for managing restructuring. By doing this they can offer their support and establish co-finance arrangements with other players.

Frédéric Turlan, HERA