2024-02-17 11:00:00
« NWe are a little reserved on this subject,” declared the former Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, in March 2023. At that time, on the occasion of the very controversial pension reform of the government of Élisabeth Borne, the Republicans had succeeded in including in the bill the creation of a permanent senior contract for those over 60, with , in return, a reduction in employer contributions. Already, the subject had been a source of debate within the macronie. Finally, the Constitutional Council had decided: the creation of a permanent permanent contract for seniors had been censored, considered as a legislative cavalier.
The employers have not abandoned this idea, even if the Medef has not mentioned a reduction in employer contributions this time. Meeting this Thursday, February 15 as part of negotiations on the issue of senior employment, employers and unions began negotiations on this subject.
The government’s objective being an employment rate for 60-64 year olds of 65% by 2030, compared to 36.2% in 2022, Medef is therefore proposing the creation of this contract to encourage employers to recruit and enable for unemployed seniors to return to work more easily.
“We proposed creating a senior permanent contract for job seekers,” explained Hubert Mongon, Medef negotiator. This contract, believes the employers, would have the advantage of allowing the employer to have “visibility on the departure date, since retirement would be possible as soon as full retirement conditions are obtained, and no at 70 years old as is legally the case today.”
Clearly, as soon as the employee meets the conditions for full retirement, the company will be able to terminate their contract. The employers also propose to eliminate “the specific employer contribution of 30%” to reduce the social retirement compensation system.
When the government feared a “windfall effect” of 2.3 billion euros
In the original text of the pension reform, the right-wing senators who initiated the amendment explained that this senior permanent contract should be reduced in contributions to allow the employer to “compensate the cost of a senior employee who, given his experience, can claim higher remuneration than a young worker.
According to The world, the CPME, the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises, would be in favor of this contract with a reduction in employer contributions for unemployment insurance. This measure might be financed by reducing the cost to France Travail of compensating older jobseekers.
In France, the employment rate of 55-64 year olds, 56%, is lower than the European average, which stands at 60.5%. For Medef, this specific contract is a solution. “From the age of 60”, seniors might claim this “hiring incentive” system, which should “enable the employee to be supported until retirement, possibly by combining this permanent contract with the differential unemployment benefit if he is less well paid compared to the previous activity,” explained the Medef negotiator.
In March 2023, this measure was relatively contested by the government. At the time, a certain Gabriel Attal, then Minister for Public Accounts, was opposed to it, estimating the cost of this reduction in contributions at 800 million euros. In addition, he declared that in the event of switching all seniors to this type of contract thanks to a “windfall effect”, establishing a permanent permanent contract for seniors would cost the State 2.3 billion euros. However, according to The world, Bruno Le Maire recently declared himself in favor of this project. To compensate for these “windfall effects”, employers are proposing a waiting period of six months between dismissal and rehiring in the same company.
The unions see it as “a gift to businesses”
On the union side, the senior CDI encounters strong opposition. “This senior permanent contract is not an incentive for businesses, it is a gift to businesses,” declared the former general secretary of the CFDT Laurent Berger last March. Philippe Martinez, former number one of the CGT, denounced “an old recipe” to make “less money coming in”.
READ ALSO The horizon darkens for full employmentMore recently, on Saturday February 10, the current general secretary of the CFDT Marylise Léon declared that the question of unemployment among seniors “does not arise in this way. We need to keep seniors in business.” Olivier Guivarch, representative of the CFDT in the current negotiations, declared that such a measure would have “no impact on the employment rate”, and that “it is contradictory with the fact of saying that we want to fight once morest stereotypes. Finally, at the end of the discussions on February 15, Nathalie Bazire, confederal secretary of the CGT, criticized “a false good idea”.
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