Agreement in sight on the universal time savings account (Cetu)

The executive took this decision after noting the failure of the negotiation on life at work, which resulted in the impossibility of completing the unemployment insurance agreement on its senior part.

After this failure, the Union of Local Businesses (U2P), a minority employers' organization representing craftsmen, traders and liberal professions, took the initiative to initiate new negotiations on Cetu and professional retraining.

A first session last Tuesday made it possible to reach a consensus on Cetu between the U2P, the CFDT and the CFTC. FO remained more doubtful and the CFE-CGC indicated that it would not sign.

Negotiators are due to meet at U2P headquarters on Tuesday morning and will likely indicate at the end whether they want a signature from their organizations, which will later decide whether they endorse the agreement.

The government "welcomes with interest" these discussions which are continuing between the U2P and unions, a ministerial advisor told AFP on Monday.

But "it's not the same thing when you have eight social partners who sign as when you have a prolonged discussion" without certain employers' organizations. In this case, "it's still more complicated", according to the advisor, who added that the government did not plan to take up the text in full.

The Cetu project, a campaign promise by Emmanuel Macron which appeared in the orientation document sent by the government to partners for the employment of seniors, was rejected by Medef and CPME.

The text, elements of which could be included in a Labor 2 bill envisaged by the executive in the fall, allows all employees to save leave, RTT and bonuses to use them later in the during their career.

The negotiators will also try to reach an agreement on professional retraining, a point which already appeared in the draft employers' agreement on the employment of seniors. But in the new draft agreement, a blocking point concerning the maintenance of the employment contract of employees who left to train at their own initiative was lifted.

With this text, U2P also wishes to remove a barrier to the hiring of seniors aged 55 and over, by setting up a mechanism for pooling the cost of severance pay for incapacity.