Final Negotiation Sessions for Unemployment Insurance Agreement

The inter-professional negotiation on unemployment insurance is entering its home stretch. The unions and employers’ organizations will meet for two final negotiation sessions on November 9 and 10. During the previous meeting, on October 25, the employers put a first written document on the table. This is a proposal for a non-detailed plan, covering the themes that the social partners wish to see included in the draft agreement.

Employers have also made their demands known, starting with a reduction in the unemployment contribution rate. Employers not only want to increase this rate, currently 4.05 % of payroll, below 4 %. But they also demand the abandonment of the temporary contribution of 0.05 points put in place in 2017 for the benefit of the salary guarantee scheme. This cumulative drop of 0.1 point would represent a shortfall of around 710 million euros in 2023 for Unédic.

Restoring rights to job seekers

It is not the preservation of parity that will make us accept a reduction in unemployment insurance contributions, warns Michel Beaugas, confederal secretary in charge of employment and leader of the FO delegation, thus signaling to employers the vain nature of such blackmail. If the provisional contribution could be lifted, on the other hand we do not agree to bring the contribution below 4 %. Or we must give back rights to job seekers in exchange, at least up to what the companies will earn !he adds.

This could, for example, involve modifying the rules concerning countercyclicality, so that job seekers recover rights relating to the duration of compensation as soon as unemployment registers a rate of 7 %. Since 1^is February 2023, the compensation period is reduced by 25 % as long as the unemployment rate does not reach a threshold of 9 %. FO is also making demands to improve compensation for seasonal employees or those on short contracts.