Social partners sign agreement changing criteria for use of temporary workers

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In September 2005, the Association of Temporary Work Agencies and three trade unions signed an agreement setting out two new cases in which temporary workers may be employed.

The agreement of 7 September 2005 signed by the Association of Temporary Work Agencies’ (Syndicat des entreprises de travail temporaire, SETT) and three unions : the French Democratic Confederation of Labour, (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT); 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) and the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) is based on the Social Cohesion Act of 18 January 2005 , and amends the status of temporary work. This status includes an exhaustive list of the cases in which temporary workers may be employed. Such employment was previously allowable in three sets of circumstances, all of them connected to the client company’s situation: to replace an employee, to cope with a temporary increase in workload and Seasonal employment.

The Act of 18 January 2005 introduced for the first time employment criteria linked to the temporary worker’s personal situation:

• complement vocational training,

• or to facilitate the recruitment of jobless people facing special social or occupational difficulties.

Extra vocational training

The 7 September agreement outlines a profile plus (possibly cumulative) criteria for eligible

• they have qualifications that have become obsolete in regard to the requirements of their regional job market;

• they must be at least 45 and want to keep up, broaden or refocus their occupational skills;

• they are women or men seeking to enter an occupation traditionally dominated by the other sex;

• they are people who have just finished a Temporary Agency Worker’s Professional Development Contract (Contrat de Développement Professionnel Intérimaire) (set out in the national agreement of 8 July 2004), and require practical top-up training (with a client company).

Training is carried out and paid for by the temporary employment agency. The training top-up must enable transferable knowledge and expertise to be acquired.

It includes two strands:

• The first strand takes the form of a training assignment contract (contrat de mission formation) binding temporary worker and temporary agency. The temporary worker’s pay must be at least equal to the minimum wage SMIC, but the end of assignment lump sum is not payable.

• The second strand is an assignment contract (contrat de mission) between the worker and the temporary employment agency. The length of the assignment is equal to at least ten times that of the contrat de mission formation, so that the endeavours of the temporary agency and the employee can produce a worthwhile result. The other criteria for the assignment comply with the previous framework.

• The scheme is completed by a secondment contract between the temporary employment agency and the client company, satisfying the same requirements of duration as the assignment contract.

Recruitment of jobless people facing special social or occupational difficulties

Secondment gives rise to:

• an assignment contract between the temporary employment agency and the temporary worker;

• and a secondment contract between the temporary employment agency and the client company. The secondment contract follows the standard rules of the temporary work sector.

The employee’s secondment is preceded by the signing of an agreement between the three parties concerned: temporary employment agency, client company and temporary worker. This agreement sets out the commitments of each of them in respect of:

• the length of the assignment (i.e. equal to at least 10 times the length of a mentoring and monitoring plan);

• training, evaluation, monitoring, help in constructing a career plan, etc.

The SETT emphasised the fact that 'in setting out a precise policy that includes the people concerned by these two new criteria for using temporary agency workers', the social partners, 'have sought to facilitate access to employment or a return to the labour market'. In the opinion of François Roux, a SETT general delegate, 'this is more of an opportunity for these people than it is for growing our businesses'.

The signatory unions have been relatively reticent about the scope of the agreement.

The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) and the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC), which did not sign up to the agreement, have made forceful responses. The CGT is critical of the 'serious consequences' of the agreement, which it feels will definitely aggravate job insecurity among workers and exclude the employees 'in the greatest need by selecting those who are most employable and adaptable to companies’ needs'. Creating two new cases, this agreement would allow firms 'to freely use temporary employment'.

For a long time, a large proportion of temporary work assignments have ended up with the worker being recruited by the client company. Yet, this earth-shattering change to the regulatory landscape can only give the debate a new dimension: will temporary agency work grow alongside the creation of stable employment, or the two be in competition?

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