New agreement signed in banking

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On 10 January 2000, the Association of French Banks (AFB) and the trade unions signed a new collective agreement for the banking sector. Although the new agreement constitutes a step backwards from the previous one - which had been terminated by the employers - in some respects, it is still an advance on French labour law provisions. However, the deal does not address the fundamental issue of the implementation of the 35-hour working week.

In February 1998, the Association of French Banks (Association Française des Banques, AFB) decided to give notice to terminate the banking sector collective agreement covering 230,000 employees (FR9802194F). The agreement was thus due to expire on 1 January 2000, and a new agreement had to be reached by that date, if the sector was not to be deprived of bargaining coverage and thus subject only to the provisions of labour law.

The stakes involved in the signing of a new collective agreement were very high for all involved. Management aimed to maintain the present industrial relations climate, while employees wanted greater protection than offered by labour law, and the trade unions wanted to strike a deal in an industry facing future restructuring. Therefore, it was vital to avoid a repeat performance of 1997, when AFB had asked the government to repeal the decree governing bank opening hours and had unilaterally imposed a "charter" setting out compensation for the workers concerned by revised opening arrangements.

Content of the agreement

Employers considered the existing basic collective agreement for banking, dating from 1952, obsolete in view of changes taking place in the sector. The two major grievances focussed on pay-setting and the organisation of working time. On the one hand, AFB wanted to decentralise wage negotiations at the individual company level and eliminate the sector's "points system" and salary scales which ensured uniform pay developments across companies and employees. On the other hand, the issue of flexibility of working time organisation, which in 1997 had resulted in the repeal of the 1937 decree on the regulation of opening hours so as to allow banks to open on Saturdays, was raised again with the passage in 1998 (FR9806113F) and 1999 (FR9910197N) of the two laws on the introduction of the 35-hour working week.

The key points of the new agreement are as follows:

• the points system has been abolished, but sectoral minimum wages will continue to be negotiated annually with AFB. A "pay guarantee" has been introduced to increase the wages of employees earning under FRF 200,000 per year, who have not had a pay rise over the past five years (the unions had sought a three-year period). This measure is to be implemented at sector level. The job classification system has been extended to include 11 grades and 20 "key jobs". Each employee will be evaluated at least once every two years;

• substantial reductions in sickness and maternity leave provisions, included in the AFB's first proposals, were eventually reconsidered. In the new agreement, the terms governing maternity leave, which is an important issue in a sector with a large proportion of female employees, are very similar to those set out in the former collective agreement (45 days' leave over and above the statutory scheme);

• a framework for employee profit-sharing has been introduced;

• initial AFB proposals relating to the appeal process in the event of demotion and assessments of poor performance were improved; and

• no provision is made for the implementation of the 35-hour week, which has thus been postponed. This fact makes those provisions of the new agreement concerning holidays inoperative. Apart from a few local-level agreements, such as at Crédit Mutuel, CIC, Banque Hervet and Crédit Agricole, negotiations on this issue are yet to take place in the sector.

Issues concerning the right to take part in union activities (permission for time off) were also postponed, with AFB committing itself to renegotiating this matter by 15 February 2000.

The negotiating process

Following its decision in February 1998 to terminate the sectoral agreement, AFB instigated a negotiating process including all the representative banking sector trade unions. The support for the various unions in the 1998 employee representative elections in AFB-affiliated banks was as follows: CFDT- 33.5%; SNB (CFE-CGC) - 26.1%; CGT-FO- 18.4%, CGT- 12.2%; and CFTC- 7.8%.

The negotiation process was difficult and was characterised by two distinct stages:

1. a period lasting until autumn 1999 when almost no negotiations took place between AFB and the unions, and the unions were bitterly divided. Negotiations were divided into four major areas, and the social partners met to discuss these subjects on a regular basis. However, the overall negotiating process remained stalled. During this period, AFB tabled an initial draft that was severely criticised by the unions (FR9907102N);

2. from autumn 1999, a period of increased momentum in the exchanges between AFB and the unions, against a backdrop of union unity and mobilisation. AFB made concessions in December, and a new collective agreement was signed on 10 January 2000.

Both unions and employers used threats and mobilisation as negotiating tactics. The main features of the negotiation process were the following:

• the hard line adopted by AFB at the outset of the negotiations;

• union divisions leading to the conclusion of a sector-level agreement on the 35-hour working week with only the SNB union on 4 February 1999 (FR9901151F). This agreement, which was severely criticised by the other unions, was overturned by a 28 September 1999 lower court decision and finally suspended by the Appeal Court in December 1999;

• union unity during autumn 1999 around the principle of an agreement signed by all unions;

• worker mobilisation culminating in a strike on 30 November (FR9912125F), involving a record 30% of workers in a traditionally "un-militant" sector. According to organisers, 30,000 people participated in a union rally;

• threats by AFB to impose unilateral measures, instead of a collective agreement, if no deal was struck; and

• increased momentum in the proposals and concessions put forward during December 1999.

Internally, the unions took innovative steps to allow worker participation in the discussions over the proposed new agreement. CGT issued a four-page document summarising the agreement and explaining why the union was supporting it, and consulted its members by distributing 150,000 ballot papers. CGT-FO organised meetings with its departmental-level organisations, while CFTC consulted its membership before making a decision. CFDT consulted its 80 local unions and the SNB sought the views of the 150 members of its union council.

Commentary

The signing of the new collective agreement is an important step in the development of the banking sector - but only a partial one, since the issue of the 35-hour week still remains to be addressed. The agreement on the reduction of working time signed by AFB and SNB in early 1999, which was later suspended by the courts, raises both a problem of content, which is perceived as inappropriate by other unions, and one of legitimacy, as the number of unions signing up to such an agreement remains an issue of concern for companies. (Sabine Montagne, IRES)