Pension reform: the government entangled, season 2

Rarely, employers and unions of employees agree on one point: it is urgent to wait before raising again the thorny question of pension reform. Conversely, the new Prime Minister, Jean Castex, intends to settle the file "in the short term". He has also planned to start receiving social partners from Wednesday 8 July. The new Minister of Labor, Élisabeth Borne, also indicated that the pension file was passing from the fold of the Ministry of Health to that of Labor and that dialogue would resume "soon".

>> Read: Emmanuel Macron wants to relaunch pension reform, but "transformed"

At first glance, the unions are not opposed to the idea of ​​a meeting. "It seems important to us to be able to discuss with the Prime Minister to explain the economic, environmental and social emergencies of the post-Covid situation. But if it is a question of hearing the same refrain as before the health crisis, then we will have no time to lose, "insists France 24, Céline Verzeletti, Confederal Secretary of the CGT. "This is not the time to put back the tension, the conflict, even as the job cuts fall by the thousands, assured earlier Yves Veyrier, secretary general of FO, the subject of pensions: nitroglycerin ".  

Major social reforms are directly impacted by the crisis. We must take them up in a concerted framework and with overall coherence. pic.twitter.com/8PVQmkNdtt

Do not "create uncertainty"

For Medef too, the debate comes too early. Companies, undergoing restructuring to face the crisis, are using the levers currently available to them. Among them, "they send many employees in pre-retirement disguised in a DIY system that relies on unemployment to bring flexibility to their operation. If they no longer have this possibility with the reform, they will be forced to make layoffs more traumatic for everyone, "says Rémi Bourguignon, university professor at IAE Gustave-Eiffel. This is why Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, boss of the bosses, also insists on "pausing" the reform. "It's break to resume, not break forever." 

One thing is certain, if the government launches out in this building site, "it is especially important that it does not drag on. Because the worst in the field of employment is to create uncertainty, continues Rémi Bourguignon. will only pass if the government manages to settle the issue before the summer. This seems complicated, because the simple fact of addressing the issue is already debated. "  

The grandfather clause

At the end of the first season, the pension reform had been suspended in mid-March due to the health crisis, when it had just been adopted at first reading in the National Assembly. Government and unions had failed to agree on the pivotal age, the fate of special schemes (including those of the SNCF and RATP) and on taking into account the harsh working conditions in the calculation of pensions. The specter of the economic crisis therefore risks "exacerbating relations with the social partners", says the professor. The unions say nothing else. "With the social emergency and the thousands of jobs destroyed, we are even more mobilized than before," says Céline Verzeletti.   

>> Read: Pension reform: the true-false withdrawal from the pivotal age  

Under these conditions, how can the government resume dialogue with the unions? "The executive can certainly let go of ballast on the grandfather clause," replied Rémi Bourguignon. In practice, this system provides that the new universal point pension scheme provided for by the pension reform only applies to new entrants to the labor market on the date of its establishment. In other words, to young people born from the early 2000s, if the new system is born in 2025, as planned.  

Didier Aubert (CFDT railroad workers): "If we are granted the grandfather clause, we come out of the conflict immediately" https://t.co/3E8KUSBygX

Pass the reform during the summer

This one concession may not be enough. Especially since the President had promised on April 13, during confinement, to "build another project in harmony", calling on everyone to "think outside the box, ideologies and reinvent ourselves, me first". If the executive returns with the same reform, "public opinion risks thinking that the president is making fun of him".   

The fact remains that there is no economic or social reason to make the reform urgent. "The French have been tired of confinement, others are worried about their professional future. Opinion is not ready for this new debate, estimates Rémi Bourguignon. One can therefore wonder if it is not not a purely political reason. " But beware, warns Professor Bourguignon, to pass a reform during the summer when the French have their minds on vacation could certainly be faster, but the executive could also pay the expensive price in the long term for future elections .

In any case, some unions, like the CGT, expect nothing from the new government. "This is a right-wing team led by a figure of Sarkozism who does not embody renewal, criticizes the CGT unionist. We have no illusions about their ability to change."   

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