Unemployment insurance: no new rules without agreement on seniors

The employers and three unions (CFDT, FO, CFTC) reached, after difficult negotiations, an agreement on November 10 on the compensation rules from January 2024.

They had referred the provisions concerning the compensation of seniors in connection with the pension reform (in particular the raising of the age limits for an extended duration of rights) to the negotiations which must open on the employment of the oldest workers. aged. At the same time, the signatories had planned in advance the volume of savings to be made: 440 million euros over the period 2024-2027.

After the announcement of the agreement on November 10, the government immediately announced that it was going to "study" its compatibility with the objectives it had set in its framework letter.

Matignon indicated Monday that after analysis, this framework was “respected”. But the agreement is "incomplete", the same source added, with one point which "remains in uncertainty": what concerns seniors where "nothing can guarantee that in the end, there will be these measures”.

Consequently, "when the social partners ask us to approve the unemployment insurance agreement, we will postpone our response (...) to give them time to negotiate" and to present an amendment on seniors, Matignon said.

The idea is to tell the social partners: "We will take your agreement once it is complete", we insisted, rejecting any mistrust.

Until then, as the current compensation rules will fall on December 31, “a so-called joining decree will extend all the rules” until June 30, 2024 at the latest.

The other provisions of the agreement, such as the reduction of six to five months of work for the opening of unemployment insurance rights or the reduction in the employer contribution of 0,05% of the payroll, which were to be implemented apply on January 1st, will also wait.

“Hearable”

The general secretary of the CFDT Marylise Léon has affirmed several times in recent days that the approval of the agreement would be worth "the government's confidence in social dialogue", seeing it as a "political" choice.

But, according to CFDT negotiator Olivier Guivarch, “the government will give approval later, after the amendment on senior measures”.

“It is understandable since we have given ourselves time,” he qualified, emphasizing that “measures in favor of job seekers will exist in 2024”.

The CGT, for its part, recalls, via its negotiator Denis Gravouil, that it was not a signatory of “this regressive text”.

The social partners therefore find themselves under great pressure to succeed.

In the absence of agreement on seniors, "we will fall back into the hypothesis of a deficiency decree", that is to say that it is the State which will define the rules of unemployment insurance, summarized Matignon.

The “guidance document” which should serve as a basis for discussions on the employment of seniors by mid-March in principle, puts forward the objective of moving to an employment rate for 60-64 year olds of 65%. “by 2030” (compared to 36,2% in 2022).

The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire said last week that he was in favor of lowering the duration of unemployment compensation for those over 55 to align it with that of other unemployed people, one of the measures to be taken according to him to achieve full employment.

As seniors have more difficulty finding employment, compensation for those over 55 is currently extended for 27 months compared to 18 months for younger people. These compensation periods have already been reduced by 25% on February 1.

Asked about a possible tightening of the conditions of access to the conventional termination mentioned by the newspaper La Tribune, Matignon also confirms that he is engaged in a “reflection”, while the use of this system increased by 77% between 2012 and 2022.

“The Prime Minister wants us to think about new avenues for reform and to question existing systems, for example conventional terminations,” we explain to Matignon.