In January 2002, four French trade union confederations - CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT - set up an Inter-union Employee Savings Committee to deal with new legislation on employee savings schemes, which will be subject to negotiations at company and sector level. The CGT-FO union confederation is not participating in the committee, which will seek to to protect employees' savings and promote socially responsible investments.
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In January 2002, four French trade union confederations - CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT - set up an Inter-union Employee Savings Committee to deal with new legislation on employee savings schemes, which will be subject to negotiations at company and sector level. The CGT-FO union confederation is not participating in the committee, which will seek to to protect employees' savings and promote socially responsible investments.
In the wake of the implementation of new legislation on employee savings schemes, adopted in February 2001 (FR0102129N) and following two months of talks, in January 2002 an Inter-union Employee Savings Committee (Comité intersyndical de l'épargne salariale, CIES) was finally set up by four of the five representative trade 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), the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) and the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC). The General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) declined to take part.
The goal of the new inter-union initiative is twofold. First, it is designed to guarantee the security of employee savings investment through geographical and sectoral diversification while avoiding competition with the 'pay-as-you-go' pension scheme. Second, it is geared to channelling investment into those companies meeting 'socially-responsible management' criteria set by the four trade unions and to avoiding a merely profit-based policy for employee savings management.
The new legislation requires employers to negotiate with trade unions the introduction of two new employee savings schemes - the 'inter-company savings scheme' (Plan d'épargne interentreprises, PEI) and the 'voluntary partnership employee savings scheme' (Plan partenarial d'épargne salarial volontaire, PPESV) (the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Laurent Fabius, recently announced imminent agreements on this issue in the automobile-body repair sector and the liberal professions). Employers will thus have to work with employee representatives in managing employee savings. The new inter-union committee is pressing for a trade union majority on the monitoring committee for the company mutual funds in which employee savings are placed. The trade unions believe that this would enable them to demand that fund managers provide the best possible value for money in terms of the services they provide employees (ie fund management and accounting). They also consider that it would put them in a position to monitor fund management through their elected representatives.
Faced with a fait accompli and the new requirement to negotiate on employee savings schemes at company level, CGT, which has been openly critical of the new legislation but unable to impose any other solution, finally decided to sign up to the inter-union committee launched by the other three trade unions, which have – since the outset - been more favourable to the legislation. Turning employee savings into a financial tool in the service of purely trade union goals, such as lobbying companies to adopt better social and environmental practices, has indeed become a major priority for trade union action – especially for CFDT. The more circumspect CGT justified its decision to join the new committee by referring to its wish to be present at the bargaining table as soon as the new schemes are implemented at company level and consequently, to be in a better position to swing decisions in favour of employees.
CGT-FO explained its refusal to participate in the new committee by criticising what it sees as an ambivalent trade union role under the new schemes: on the one hand, unions will be defending the interests of employees and on the other, they will be directly or indirectly participating in company management. It reiterated its view that a purely wage-oriented bargaining and the defence of the pay-as-you-go pension scheme are priority trade union demands. However, the union's refusal will not, as such, prevent it from taking part in both sector- and company-level negotiations over employee savings agreements.
The National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA), which does not hold representative status at national intersectoral level, supported the initiative by the four trade union confederations. Minister Fabius also applauded the move, which effectively buttresses his new legislation.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), Four unions set up employee savings committee, article.
