Sectoral agreement on employment of older people in banking

An agreement on non-discrimination on grounds of age and the employment of older people in the financial intermediation sector was reached in July 2008. It has since been signed by three of the five sectoral trade unions and by the banking employer organisation. The agreement provides for career progression and training measures. This is the 10th sectoral agreement on ageing; more are likely to follow as the government will otherwise impose penalties by the end of 2009.

After almost two years of bargaining, an agreement on non-discrimination on grounds of age and the employment of older people in the financial intermediation sector was reached in France by the relevant social partners on 9 July 2008. Some 35% of employees in banks are aged 50 years and over. This agreement comes under the national multi-industry agreement on the employment of older people, which was concluded on 13 October 2005 and signed on 9 March 2006 (FR0512104F).

Main points of agreement

Non-discrimination and career progression

The agreement confirms the non-discrimination principle on grounds of age regarding recruitment, access to vocational training, mobility, grading, promotion and pay. In this regard, the following provisions apply.

• The sector undertakes to ensure that no reference is made to age in job offers, including those inside companies.

• Two indicators will be monitored: the proportion of workers aged over 44 years accessing periods of professional training, and trends in the promotion rates of those over 45 years.

• At the next three-yearly bargaining session on training, the social partners will examine ways to promote the access of older people to training contracts.

Furthermore, the agreement provides for an occupational interview in the second part of a person’s career – from 45 years onwards – which is carried out every five years at the initiative of employees. It will consider their career development and training needs, as well as possible adjustments to their employment conditions. Once the worker has reached 55 years, the interview will also cover all ‘end-of-career adjustment arrangements available in the company’.

Training

The agreement incorporates undertakings made by the financial intermediation sector in the 8 July 2005 agreement on lifelong learning and the 29 March 2005 agreement on employer-instigated retirement.

• Training for workers aged 55 years and over will be decided on during the interviews in the second part of the worker’s career and will take place during working time.

• For those aged over 50 years, the individual right to training (droit individuel à la formation, DIF) may be added to training agreed with the employer (FR0311103F).

• A skills assessment will be provided for those aged 45 years and over or having 20 years of occupational activity, with a minimum of one year’s length of service.

• Material and logistical support will be offered for the validation of work experience (validation des acquis de l’expérience, VAE) (FR0404NU04).

• Workers aged over 45 years will have priority access to a period of professional training.

Career planning

As part of a forward-looking employment and skills management programme, two indicators will be monitored: the profile of departures from work in occupational groups and grades according to age group (45–49, 50–55, over 55), and full retirement according to occupational group and age group (under 60, 60–61, over 61). Forward-looking employment and skills management tools will be prepared within the framework of the negotiations on the 11 January 2008 multi-industry agreement on modernising the labour market (FR0802049I).

• An annual sector-level report on the employment of older people will be published, using a defined list of indicators covering the last three years. This report will be examined in the context of consultations on the social balance sheet, with possible additional indicators defined by the company.

• The sector undertakes to set a target for increasing the average exit age after 55 years – for all reasons – from 58.9 years in 2007 to 60 years by 31 December 2012. This represents on average a three-month increase each year from 2009 onwards. Companies with more than 300 employees are invited to propose two additional quantitative targets.

Reactions of social partners

On the employer side, the French Association of Banks ( Association française des banques**,** AFB) signed the agreement.

On the trade union side, three of the five sector-level unions signed the agreement: the Banks and Finance Company Federation (Fédération des syndicats Banques et Sociétés financières), affiliated to the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), on 28 July 2008; the Banking Federation (Fédération Banques), affiliated to the French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC), on 24 September; and the Federation of Clerical Staff and Executives (Fédération des employés et cadres), affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour – Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail – Force ouvrière, CGT-FO), on 18 September. Together, these three unions represent the majority of the 230,000 employees in the sector.

However, the Federation of Bank and Insurance Staff (Fédération des syndicats du personnel de la banque et de l’assurance), affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), and the National Bank and Credit Union (Syndicat national de la banque et du crédit, SNB), affiliated to 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), refused to sign the agreement. SNB, which is the second largest trade union in the sector, criticised it as being a ‘Canada Dry agreement’ that does not provide for ‘minimum levels regarding recruitment, mobility and promotion of those aged over 45 years’.

The ‘Canada Dry’ System was developed as an alternative for employees who do not fulfil the necessary conditions to receive early retirement. An allowance is paid on top of unemployment benefits and no employer social security is due on the employer’s contribution.

More sectors likely to follow

So far, nine areas of economic activity have reached agreements on the employment of older people since the conclusion of the national multi-industry agreement (in French) in October 2005, including: the milk industry on 5 December 2005, milk cooperatives on 15 December 2005, sugar refineries and distilleries with a protocol of agreement on 11 July 2006, prepared food product industries on 21 June 2007, pork meat industries on 25 September 2007, companies involved in trading and producing soil products, fertilisers and associated products on 30 November 2007, paper and paperboard manufacturing on 11 March 2008, agriculture on 11 March 2008 and casinos on 30 June 2008.

More sectoral agreements may emerge in the coming year, as the government has decided to impose a penalty of 1% of the wage bill on companies that are not covered by an agreement or action plan on the employment of older people by the end of 2009.

Annie Jolivet, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)