Social partner involvement in the 2002 NAP

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This feature examines social partner involvement in France's 2002 National Action Plan (NAP) for employment. It is one of a set of similar features for all the EU Member States, written in response to a questionnaire.

This feature outlines how French social partner organisations have been involved in France's 2002 National Action Plan (NAP) on employment. Under the European employment strategy, each year the EU Member States draw up NAPs in response to the annual Employment Guidelines.

Similar features on social partner involvement in the 2002 NAPs have been drawn up by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) national centres in all the EU Member States, in response to a questionnaire. Details on the background to this exercise, and the questionnaire used, can be found at TN0206102F. Readers are advised to refer to the questionnaire in conjunction with this feature.

In early June, France's new conservative government had not formally submitted the French NAP for 2002 to the EU authorities, though its adoption was due soon. The new government was committed to amending the NAP developed, in consultation with the social partners, by the previous Socialist-led government.

Procedural aspects

In 1998, France set up the Committee for Social Dialogue on European and International Issues (Comité du dialogue social pour les questions européennes et internationales, CDSEI) (FR9812149N). This Committee is essentially designed to involve trade unions and employers' associations in the development of the NAP. The social partner organisations represented on the CDSEI are:

• the five representative trade union confederations - the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO), the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, 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);

• 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), the Craftwork Employers' Association (Union professionnelle artisanale, UPA) and the French section of the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP);

• farmers' and agriculture-related associations - the National Federation of Farmers' Unions (Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles, FNSEA) and the National Confederation of Agricultural Mutual Associations, Cooperatives and Credit Bodies (Confédération Nationale de la Mutualité, de la Coopération et du Crédit Agricoles, CNMCCA); and

• the National Union of the Liberal Professions, (Union Nationale des Professions Libérales, UNAPL).

The CDSEI served as a forum for several months of discussions between the social partners and Ministry of Employment officials on the 2002 NAP .

Since the first NAP in 1998, the approach taken to dialogue and discussion with the social partners has featured increasing input and involvement by the partners (FR9805107F, FR9906189F, FR0005164F and FR0106163F). In the cases of the 2002 NAP , after an initial meeting geared to developing a modus operandi, topic-specific working groups were set up with social partner involvement under the umbrella of the CDSEI. A final meeting was held to discuss the draft NAP 2002 as a whole. In addition, several organisations represented on the CDSEI held fringe meetings designed further to develop discussions taking place under the COPARSOC initiative - an EU-wide project involving the French social partners and their counterparts from other Member States in examining key points of the European employment strategy (FR0205105F).

The 2002 NAP contains input by the social partners, which is distinguished from the rest of the text by being presented in a shaded format. Moreover, a summary of the COPARSOC initiative has been included as an appendix to the NAP.

However, the 2002 NAP clearly stipulates that there is no confusion between the jurisdiction of the government and that of the social partners. The discussions that took place did not lead to agreements. The NAP is a government responsibility and the social partners are not signatories to it.

Matters of policy content

Objective D of the 2002 Employment Guidelines calls for a 'comprehensive partnership with the social partners for the implementation, monitoring and follow-up of the employment strategy'. The French social partners provided input to the 2002 NAP through discussions with the government without, however, claiming any formal responsibility for the implementation, running or monitoring of the employment strategy. The social partner contribution included in the French NAP for 2002 highlights the issues that have been addressed by the COPARSOC project, in particular procedural and policy issues that require greater attention with a view to the 2003 NAP. Among the areas that they feel need to be addressed over the next few years are concerned, the social partners, in their contribution to the NAP, include :

• 'stabilisation' of career paths;

• mutualisation of resources and means of intervention, specifically for the benefit of small and medium-sized enterprises;

• management of periods of career transition;

• implementing, providing information on and disseminating employment policies;

• using the increase in the number of women in the workforce as an economic 'motor' and a driving force for the quality of social change; and

• occupational opportunities within company networks.

French social partner input into the 2002 NAP was based on a significant amount of preparatory work done by two CDSEI topic-specific working groups on the issues of increasing female participation in the workforce and 'stabilising' career paths.

On the first issue, with a view to genuinely enhancing women's employment, all the organisations involved in the relevant working group focused on the need to improve the transition between, and management of, the various periods in people's lives, both within and outside the company setting. In addition to reducing wage disparities, the trade unions are advocating greater training choices for women as well as tangible measures aimed at improving the reconciliation of work and family life. Better-quality employment for women, who are often forced to accept part-time work, is an issue seen as requiring particular attention.

On the issue of 'stabilising' careers, the ad hoc working group focused essentially on the need to maintain the largely informal nature of discussions on these issues between the government and the social partners. The group stressed that a standard-setting approach should be avoided.

The organisations represented on the CDSEI expressed varying assessments of the work done by the various working groups and the joint contribution to the NAP. The French section of CEEP, CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT have been involved in working groups because they view these groups as having highlighted possible initiatives that require greater study. CGPME has also actively participated in the COPARSOC initiative and the resulting contribution to the NAP. However, MEDEF declined to take part in COPARSOC and any subsequent related initiatives, while CGT-FO is keeping a watchful eye on proceedings but has had misgivings over the process as a whole.

With regard to the social partners' assessment of the overall NAP, the trade unions and employers' associations each have a different opinion on the draft 2002 NAP as developed and discussed by the government led by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin prior to May 2002.

Some organisations unequivocally expressed their satisfaction at the procedure used by the government to draft the NAP and at the involvement of the social partners in the process. CFTC has endorsed the approach taken, which broadly took into account the work done by the various organisations participating in the COPARSOC initiative. This union confederation expressed regret that not all those organisations sitting on the CDSEI had agreed with this approach. CFDT echoed this opinion, but in the long run is pressing for an active collective bargaining-based policy leading to high-quality full employment. It suggested that, in the long term, French employment policy should be set out in the NAP in a more objective or even contradictory manner.

CGT also expressed its satisfaction. It participates in the COPARSOC initiative, but considers that the social partners need a real evaluation of the employment impact of the various laws adopted since 1998 - such as the 'Aubry' 35-hour week laws (FR0001137F), the January 2002 'social modernisation' law (FR0201102F) and various legislative initiatives on gender issues.

CGT-FO stressed the strict distinction to be made between the NAP process, which is the government's responsibility, and social partner consultation in the CDSEI. It tabled a detailed paper to this effect on the 2002 NAP process.

The MEDEF employers' organisation, while reiterating its commitment to 'European construction', criticised the draft 2002 NAP submitted to the organisations represented on the CDSEI, in particular for its perceived complacency over the Jospin government's employment policy. MEDEF expressed regret that the draft NAP did not make more mention of the role of the social partners. It also expressed its misgivings over the approach used in drafting the Plan. It was particularly critical of the choice of topics - ie increasing the number of women in the workforce and stabilising careers - and the fact that they were referred to COPARSOC for further study. MEDEF has declined to participate in this initiative.

Bargaining

The 2002 Employment Guidelines promote collective bargaining in the areas of:

• improving the quality of work and employment (in general);

• modernising work organisation (guideline 13);

• lifelong learning in the context of competence and skill development in enterprises (guideline 15);

• 'active ageing' (guideline 3);

• strengthening equal opportunities for men and women (tackling the gender pay gap, desegregating the labour market, reconciling work and family/private life etc) (guidelines 16,17 and 18); and

• social integration by way of better access to the labour market for groups and individuals at risk or at a disadvantage, such as people from ethnic minorities, migrant workers, long-term unemployed people and people with disabilities (guideline 7).

No data are available on collective agreements concluded on such topics since November 2001 (when the 2002 Employment Guidelines were sent to the Member States). However, the draft 2002 NAP refers to relevant agreements concluded in 2001 (the final statistics on bargaining in France in 2001 are not yet available, so only estimates are included in the NAP).

On the issue of modernising work organisation, the draft NAP primarily refers to the September 2001 agreement on the reduction of working time in state-run hospitals (FR0110102N) and - rather puzzlingly in this context - to the initiative taken by four trade union confederations in early 2002 to create a multi-union committee on employee savings (FR0203103N). For 2002, the draft NAP calls for national agreements on unemployment insurance to protect seasonal, casual, temporary agency and fixed-term workers in the event of unemployment. The NAP also advocates sectoral or company-level agreements to address various 'atypical' employment situations, including improved working and living conditions for seasonal workers (working time reorganisation, access to housing etc). Organisations represented on the CDSEI provided examples of 'good practices' in the area of modernising work organisation. Some of these were included in the NAP, in particular a job-sharing initiative in the horticulture and poultry-slaughter sectors put forward by FNSEA and an employer-cluster initiative provided by UNAPL.

On education and lifelong training, the draft NAP refers to the suspension of intersectoral talks between trade unions and employers' organisations on this issue, which had been conducted under the 'industrial relations overhaul' initiative (FR0111123F). Also on this topic, the organisations represented on the CDSEI put forward several examples of good practices relating to: developing employment through training in craft companies; multi-skills development programmes in agriculture; skills training and development in temporary work; and access to middle-management training at the SNCF railway company.

In terms of equal opportunities, the collective bargaining approach has yet to be fully developed in France. Nevertheless, as far as combining work and family life is concerned, it should be pointed out that various company-level agreements or works council initiatives have been implemented to enhance childcare facilities. The National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Agence nationale pour l'amélioration des conditions de travail, ANACT), has been asked to provide sectors and companies with methodological support on the issues of equal employment opportunities and time organisation with a view to building on and sharing experiences. On the issue of the accreditation of vocational experience (as provided for in the recent 'social modernisation' law), agreements have been reached between the public authorities, plastics industry employers' associations and commerce and distribution companies to create pilot projects aimed at giving women priority access to this initiative. Lastly, the government and the French Builders' Association (Fédération française du bâtiment) signed a memorandum of understanding in early 2002 to promote the access of women to building and construction industry jobs.

Commentary

With each passing year, and in spite of the variety of opinions existing among the parties represented on the Committee for Social Dialogue on European and International Issues, the social partners have been increasingly involved in the NAP development process. From this perspective, the European employment strategy - the first example of the EU's 'open method of coordination' approach - has extended the range of stakeholders involved in European issues. Nevertheless, in France, this process remains largely focused on the national level and is centralised in Paris.

The NAP process has brought out substantive differences between social partners - beyond the traditional employer-union split – on the role of the government and political representation on the one hand and that of the social partners on the other. During the recent presidential election campaign, the successful candidate Jacques Chirac and the subsequent Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin clearly indicated that the new government should endeavour to clarify the role and function of the various stakeholders (FR0204106F).

Such resolve to clarify the situation can hardly be criticised. Once the statements and election slogans are over, the substance of such a commitment will remain to be determined. It will be a difficult undertaking in the absence of any agreement between the main players involved. (Maurice Braud, IRES)