Employment of seniors, retirement age, special schemes… Officially presented this Tuesday, January 10, the government's pension reform project is already causing a stir among opposition parties and unions.
At the dawn of numerous mobilizations, some have already made their counter-proposals, while the text, examined on January 23 in the Council of Ministers, will be discussed in the Assembly at the beginning of February.
Towards a retirement at 64 for the government
First flagship measure of the government: the legal retirement age would be reduced to 64 years, instead of 62 years currently - the initial track of 65 years still remaining in suspense.
The extension of the contribution period, already launched by the Touraine law of 2014, would be accelerated: the transition to 43 years would take place before 2035.
Another major point: the government seems to want to raise the minimum pension to 1,200 euros for future and current retirees with a full career.
Others will be able to continue to work partially, within the framework of a combination of employment and retirement.
Workers who started young should be able to leave two or even four years in advance.
Read alsoRetirements: legal age, full rate, special schemes… 10 key questions to understand everything
To support the end of careers, the government also wants to create a senior index negotiated in each branch and published by companies with more than 50 employees, accompanied by a penalty for those who do not fulfill this publicity obligation.
The reform could also take into account certain hardship factors, such as carrying heavy loads, awkward postures and mechanical vibrations.
Retraining leave for beneficiaries of a professional prevention account (C2P), as well as a fund for the prevention of professional wear and tear for professions identified as difficult, are under study.
The right in agreement with the executive's project
The Republicans know it: the final vote on the pension reform law will not happen without them.
At this stage, the right seems in agreement with the executive's project.
With a few adjustments: “For me, this reform should be spread over two five-year terms, by 2032. I think that the legal retirement age could be set at the end of this period at 64, with a step intermediate to 63 in 2027”, explained Éric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing party, in the JDD.
LR also wants to guarantee the application of the minimum pension of 1,200 euros “to current retirees who benefit from the most modest pensions”, and opposes, like the government, a possible increase in pension contributions.
At Nupes, a "campaign" of struggle being organized
Despite its internal tears, the left promises to unite against the project deemed "unjustified".
The proposals of LFI, EELV, the PS and the PCF will be discussed during meetings on January 10 and 17, which aim to launch a "campaign" to fight against the reform.
🔴 On Tuesday, January 17, meet at 7:00 p.m. for a meeting of the NUPES #PourNosRetraites.
➡️ Join the event on Facebook: https://t.co/rodGM6vK7K pic.twitter.com/AsHitU3ZWr
– La France insoumise (@FranceInsoumise) January 6, 2023
To organize this fight, the Nupes, which campaigned in May for retirement at 60, plans in particular to counter the majority in the Assembly as much as possible.
“We must do everything legally possible in parliament to block the reform.
No modesty about obstruction, ”pleaded EELV deputy Benjamin Lucas.
The National Rally will propose "its own reform"
For its part, the National Rally is also opposed to the postponement of the retirement age, "profoundly inefficient and unfair measure", reacts Marine Le Pen.
The French are right to oppose the postponement of the legal retirement age because it is a deeply ineffective and unfair measure!
We will fight this umpteenth agreement between Macronie and LR with our own reform which values the work of the French.
– Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) January 9, 2023
The former presidential candidate, who campaigned for maintaining retirement at 62 last May, promises to fight "this umpteenth agreement between Macronie and LR".
The RN will propose its "own reform which values the work of the French", said the deputy, without specifying the details.
The modem wants to increase contributions
To increase pension fund budgets, François Bayrou, High Commissioner for Planning and President of the MoDem, promotes "a very slight increase in employer contributions, by just one point, which would only increase by 0.7 % the payroll”, in order to contribute to a “fair distribution of efforts”, he told Les Echos.
A track to which the government seems hostile, but of which the unions are supporters.
Unanimous opposition from the unions
On the side of the unions, precisely, the reform arouses a uniform wave of protest.
“There is not, contrary to what the government says, a risk of disappearance of the pay-as-you-go pension scheme, neither in the medium nor in the long term.
This does not mean that nothing should be done, but nothing brutal is necessary, ”thundered Laurent Berger, secretary general of the
CFDT
, in our columns.
The first union in France "remains opposed to the reform with an age measure", and calls for "a real device" so that people who have worked before 20 years old "do not exceed 43 years of contribution".
The
CGT
is campaigning for a return to retirement at age 60, a minimum pension “at the level of the minimum wage at 2,000 euros”, and taking into account the years of study for these calculations.
Measures which would be financed by the end of exemptions from contributions and professional equality between men and women, which would bring in “14 billion to the pension funds”.
Like several other unions, the CGT also wants an increase in employer contributions.
An increase "of the order of one point" would bring 7.5 billion to pension funds, calculates
Unsa.
The
CFTC
even suggests a distribution of contributions between employees and employers, with a levy of three euros more on each side.
These proposals will probably be explained during an unprecedented meeting of the unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU) and youth organizations on Tuesday evening, at the Bourse du travail in Paris.
A common mobilization date will also be announced, with a unanimous slogan: oppose a firm "no" to the government's measures on pension reform.