Employers and unions want to regain control of the workers' compensation branch of social security

Called upon to finance the pension reform, the "industrial accidents and occupational diseases" (AT-MP) branch of the Sécu is also coveted by the social partners, who have reached an agreement to manage their surpluses themselves and more resources for prevention.

After ten months of discussions, employers and unions reached a draft agreement overnight from Monday to Tuesday, and the text, of which AFP obtained a copy, is now subject to their signature until May 31.

Employers will not be asked, like the Medef whose negotiator Yves Laqueille welcomes "a coherent set of measures". On the employee side, the leader of the CFDT Catherine Pinchaut announces that she will present a "favorable opinion" to her national office on what she describes as a "well-finished agreement".

Ditto for his counterparts at the CFE-CGC Mireille Dispot - who considers that he has "obtained progress" and "will propose a signature to the authorities" of his organization - and of the CFTC Frédéric Fischbach - who will also "propose a signature" despite "two or three reservations". For Force Ouvrière, Eric Gautron reserves his position for the moment, but underlines that "there are commitments in this text".

The ball is now in the court of the executive, which has been promising for several weeks to "faithfully transcribe" the agreements concluded between employers' organizations and trade unions, such as that on "value sharing" concluded in February.

Promise that the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will have the opportunity to confirm to the five main unions, which she receives at Matignon on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. The opportunity, among other topics, to discuss the smallest but also most prosperous branch of Social Security.

Grain to grind

Almost entirely financed by employers' contributions, this fund must generate more than 2 billion euros in surpluses this year, out of a budget of 17 billion.

A windfall from which the government has drawn more than a billion from 2024 to ensure the budgetary balance of its pension reform, via new expenditure but also a transfer of contributions for the benefit of the old age branch.

However, there will still be grain to grind. The social partners intend to decide for themselves and "fully assume their responsibilities" on the AT-MP branch, currently attached to Health Insurance.

Claiming "the legislator to take the necessary measures" to guarantee them this "autonomy", they advance their priorities at the same time. Rather than lowering contributions further, employers and unions have agreed to invest more in prevention, deeming "necessary (to) allocate an additional 100 million euros each year" - an increase of one third.

This sum would be added to the billion that the government has pre-empted for the new fund against "professional wear", supposed to benefit by 2027 to workers undergoing "marked physical constraints".

The social partners also want to "improve compensation", that is to say the pensions paid to victims of accidents and work-related illnesses.

But they claim a guarantee, because the Court of Cassation opened the way at the beginning of the year to a second compensation for "physical and moral suffering".

Faced with a potentially vertiginous financial stake, they also call on this point "the legislator to take all the necessary measures" to restore the principle of a single compensation.