Jolivet, Annie

This report looks at the evolution of initiatives related to older employees undertaken by selected organisations (case studies) in France over the last decade. It reviews the following points: main impacts of measures/initiatives at the company level; driving forces for implementing good practice at the company level; characteristics of particularly successful measures/policies; key lessons that can be drawn from implementing measures and initiatives; future issues concerning age-management raised at company level; development of national policy concerning an ageing workforce; relevant actions of social partners and other key actors: policies and practices; and, finally, the status of the issue of older workers in current policy and public debates: identification of future issues.

After 15 months of bargaining, on 12 March 2007, a protocol of agreement was reached between trade unions and employer organisations on the issue of accidents at work and occupational diseases. Significant differences emerged between the social partners, notably regarding compensation and the method of calculating employers’ contributions (/tarification/). The trade union demand for full compensation – which was widely supported by victims’ associations – came up against categorical refusal from the employer organisations.

In its recent report (in French, 1.11Mb PDF) [1], the Pensions Stewardship Council (Conseil d’orientation des retraites, COR [2]) considers that the assessment required for 2008 – as provided for under the law on pension reform adopted in August 2003 – allows the opportunity for an extended examination of three major issues. These are: setting higher pension contribution requirements and managing the system more efficiently; retaining people in employment for longer; and the equal treatment of contributors. [1] http://www.cor-retraites.fr/IMG/pdf/doc-723.pdf [2] http://www.cor-retraites.fr/

A national intersectoral agreement on the employment of older workers was concluded on 13 October 2005 (*FR0512104F* [1]). It was subsequently signed on 9 March 2006 by three employer organisations – the Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF [2]), the General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes entreprises, CGPME [3]) and the Craftwork Employers’ Organisation (Union professionnelle artisanale, UPA [4]) – as well as by three trade unions, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT [5]), the French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC [6]) 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 [7]). On the day the agreement was signed, the signatory parties agreed to include an extra clause stating that an end-of-contract payment should be given to senior workers under the new fixed-term employment contract. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/draft-agreement-reached-on-promoting-employment-of-older-workers [2] http://www.medef.fr/ [3] http://www.cgpme.fr/ [4] http://www.upa.fr/ [5] http://www.cfdt.fr/ [6] http://www.cftc.fr/ [7] http://www.cfecgc.org/

Negotiations among the French social partners on promoting employment for older workers opened in February 2005 and resulted in a draft national intersectoral agreement in October. Measures agreed include a new form of fixed-term contract for workers over the age of 57. However, the trade unions have reservations, especially as linked negotiations on retirement for workers with arduous working conditions and on unemployment insurance are still under way, while the government is preparing a plan for the employment of older workers.

An initial assessment of the July 2003 pension reform measures can now be made in terms of the uptake of early exit schemes, the buying back of annual pension credits, and early retirement after a long career. The clear increase in the number of people taking early retirement due to exposure to asbestos has provoked criticism and suggestions for reforming this retirement scheme.

A new union federation for banking and insurance staff was set up in June 2005. It resulted from a merger between the previous CGT federation and the union created in late 2004 by former activists from the CFDT federation, and is affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (CGT).

In February 2005, France’s Minister for Social Cohesion tabled a plan for developing personal services, with a view to boosting employment throughout the sector. While the plan meets the sector’s needs, it has given rise to some unease as to the type and number of jobs it may generate.

The French government submitted a workplace health plan covering the period from 2005 to 2009 to the Higher Council for the Prevention of Occupational Risks in February 2005. This plan, developed in consultation with the social partners, is designed to achieve both a substantial fall in the number of accidents at work and occupational illnesses, and a lasting improvement in prevention.

As a result of a European Court of Justice ruling in December 2002 and a large number of court cases, the French government has been obliged to extend to male civil servants with three children a right to early retirement granted previously only to female civil servants in this position. Finally, in late 2004, it opted to extend this right in principle but arguably restrict it in practice, by making this entitlement contingent upon the civil servants involved having taken a career break.