Kick -off of the “conclave”. The social partners begin, this Thursday, February 27, three months of difficult negotiations on the reform of pension of 2023. On the one hand, the unions request the repeal of the increase at 64 years of the departure age, at a cost estimated at 10 billion euros by 2030, while the employers maintain that the postponement of the age of departure is a sine qua non condition of the viability of the system.
The government, it requires a return to the financial balance of the system from 2030. After initially asking the negotiators not to “degrade” this balance, François Bayrou sent the leaders of employers and union organizations on Wednesday evening a letter asking them to “restore the financial balance of our pension system on a nearby horizon” with a “objective in the year 2030”. A way for the executive to tighten the screw.
The Court of Auditors evaluated last week, in a report which must serve as the basis for discussions, that the deficit of the pension system should reach 6.6 billion euros in 2025, and “stabilize” until 2030 before widening more. This first session – in which the number one of the unions should not participate – will therefore start with a “return” on this report by the Court of Auditors, in which the CGT notably asked to quantify the cost of a return of the starting age at 62.
Abrogation objective
According to a letter addressed to the participants by the host of the debates Jean-Jacques Marette, the negotiators will then have to establish their “work program” for the next three months. Around the table, we will find representatives with antagonistic interests: the five unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC) and the three employers’ organizations (MEDEF, CPME, U2P) representative at the interprofessional level, but also the FNSEA (Agriculture) and the UNSA union.
The boss of the CGT, Sophie Binet, aims to “clarify” things from the first meeting. “The object […] is not the return to balance “but” the repeal “of the pension reform, she warned. It would cost” 10 billion euros “by 2030, a figure” quite sustainable “, according to her.
First union, the CFDT also wants a return to 62 years: “This is the basis of discussions,” said the number 1 of the CFDT Marylise Léon on Sunday. The CFDT hopes to be able to “meet the main expectations” of employees, in particular “taking into account the arduousness and the strengthening of women’s rights,” said Yvan Ricordeau, number two of the reform center. This also underlines the need to “find a crossing route with a financial balance”, because the system “by distribution works because future generations have the assurance that the contract works with them”.
“Intergenerational equity”
On the employer side, there is no question of returning to the postponement of the starting age. “To date, Medef experts and economists have not found a better solution than that of the postponement of the age terminal,” assured the president of Medef Patrick Martin to the Sunday newspaper. Same sound of bell with the minister responsible for labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvetwhich even deemed it necessary “to work longer”.
The Confederation of SMEs aims for a “long-term balance” and suggests “intergenerational equity” which consists in “putting in the equation the question of life expectancy and its evolution”, explained to AFP its vice-president in charge of social affairs, Eric Chevée. The CPME also offers “an equalization of CSG rates” between assets and retirees (excluding small pensions) and the creation of a “additional collective capitalization floor”. Tracks that are choking employee unions and the left. “They try to put pressure on this conclave, with the fear of having a text even worse than the reform of 2023”, deplores Eric Coquerel, president of the finance committee of the National Assembly and rebellious deputy.
“The employers carry out an extremely powerful advertising campaign on retirement by capitalization,” said CGT negotiator Denis Gravouil. The financial proposals of employers should therefore strongly diverge from those presented by the unions. The CGT thus wants to balance the system by increasing the wages of women so that they really gain as much as men, by removing exemptions from contributions on overtime and by submitting to contributions profit -sharing and participation.
Finally, FO displays his skepticism on the chances of success of consultation. “On pensions, frankly, if there is no repeal, I do not see how we can start to discuss,” wonders his negotiator Michel Beaugas. François Bayrou indicated in his letter that parliamentarians would be informed of the progress of “regular deadlines” work. He had assured mid-January that if the social partners reach an agreement, the text would be submitted to Parliament to amend the very unpopular reform of 2023.