Agirc-Arrco: private sector employees raised against the government's project

Barthélémy Philippe, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: THIBAUT DURAND / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 06:09, 04 October 2023

The State covets the reserves of Agirc-Arrco. This Wednesday, employers' organizations and trade unions are meeting to define the management rules of the Agirc-Arrco scheme, which manages the supplementary pensions of private sector employees, for the period 2023-2026. End of the penalty that forced employees to work one more year to avoid a temporary discount, revaluation of the amount of supplementary pensions up to inflation or not, accumulation of employment pensions... Several topics are on the table.

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But a third actor is invited into this initially bipartisan discussion: the State. The government has calculated that the pension reform, which came into force on 1 September, will bring in, in total, 22 billion euros over 15 years into the coffers of the scheme. To finance its promise to increase the value of small pensions to a maximum of 100 euros per month, the executive therefore considers itself justified in drawing 1 to 3 billion euros per year from the complementary funds. Enough to anger the managers of the scheme, who oppose it head-on and denounce a hold-up on employee contributions. But what do the main stakeholders think?

'An abuse of power'

In this business district in the heart of Issy-Les-Moulineaux, in the Hauts-de-Seine, employees have chosen their side. For the social partners, who manage their future supplementary pensions, and against the government, whose attitude they denounce. Like Mikael: this employee in real estate would not understand that the State draws on his supplementary pension contributions. "It's quite scandalous frankly, it's an abuse of power for me, of the state," he said indignantly at the microphone of Europe 1.

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Same indignation for Marc, who works in an international hotel group. "It's unfair because they contribute for us. And that it is not up to the State to take in our contributions, "deplores the employee. Corinne is an executive at a film production company, and for her too, the government is going too far. "It's embezzlement of funds paid somewhere and that in fact will go elsewhere. And all this decided by the state. It's racketeering, a little bit. That's what I think," the executive said.

Despite all this criticism, the government does not want to back down on this issue. Its pension reform should bring 22 billion euros over fifteen years into the coffers of Agirc-Arrco. The State can therefore legitimately allocate a share of the cake, to finance the revaluation of small pensions. Agirc-Arcco has substantial reserves, 68 billion euros, which represents 9 to 10 months of benefits.