Negotiations on Cetu extended to professional retraining

The unions will negotiate on Tuesday April 16 with the Union of Local Businesses (U2P) an agreement which will cover the Universal Time Savings Account (Cetu) but also professional retraining, we learned on Friday April 12 from this employers' organization. , confirming information from Les Echos.

A spokesperson for the U2P, which represents artisans, traders and liberal professions, confirmed to AFP "the presence of all employee organizations" in this negotiation, i.e. the CFDT, the CGT , FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC.

The two other employers' organizations, Medef and CPME, had refused to include the Cetu project, supported by the CFDT, in a draft agreement on the employment of seniors which ended in failure. during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Cetu appeared in the orientation document given by former head of government Elisabeth Borne to the social partners to negotiate on the employment of seniors.

The draft agreement included a part on professional retraining, one of the points of contention between employer and union organizations: the employee saw his employment contract terminated after a training course at his initiative, a red line for the unions. In its latest version of the text, the employers had accepted the reinstatement of the employee in the original company on condition that they respect a notice period.

If retraining will be negotiated again on Tuesday, the other parts of the draft agreement, such as professional interviews, senior permanent contracts or progressive retirement, will not be.

Cetu aims to expand the time savings account (CET) - which only benefits around one in five employees today - to all employees, giving them the possibility of saving for vacations to take them. pay, take them later or retire earlier.

The management of this savings system would be entrusted to a third party organization, possibly the Caisse des Dépôts, which would ensure portability from one company to another.

Cetu is one of Emmanuel Macron's 2022 campaign promises.

But Medef, which is fiercely opposed to it, warned that it would exercise its right to oppose an agreement between the U2P, which is in the minority within employers' organizations, and the unions. In this case, the agreement would only apply to U2P member companies.

But the government could build on the agreement to introduce Cetu in all companies thanks to a bill.