The government does not seem to want to let go of the pension reform, but it is already preparing the next: a Labor law with measures likely to please the unions.
In parallel with the pension reform, on which it does not want to let go, the government is working on a future Labor law, with measures likely to please the unions. It looks like a backfire, hoping to quickly turn the page on the conflict over pension reform.
After the episode of “Yellow Vests”, already, to calm things down, Emmanuel Macron had launched a big debate, there it will be a Labor law, called “full employment.” This text should take up several demands made for a long time by the trade unions. The most convincing example is the establishment of a universal time savings account open to all: civil servants, employees, self-employed, etc. This account would have portability, it would follow workers throughout their careers. This would make it easier to take breaks during their professional life, to switch to part-time when approaching retirement, etc. It’s an old idea carried by the CFDT, which has been campaigning for a time bank for a long time, and obviously, this is a way of trying to renew the dialogue with Laurent Berger.
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Well being at work
The government’s idea is also to respond to a very strong criticism leveled at it during the battle over pensions: the subject of work, the meaning given to it, the way to better articulate it with personal life, difficulties in staying in a job, etc. All of this has not been addressed during the current debates, even though it is decisive for agreeing to work for two more years. This is why the executive plans, for example, to put in its future text, measures to strengthen early childhood services: to compensate for the loss of benefits around the maternity quarters that its pension reform will entail. .
For seniors, the executive would also put in this law an increase in compensation in the event of contractual terminations for those over 55, in order to dissuade employers from laying them off, to go further than the only senior index included in the reform . There should also be experiments with the 35-hour, four-day week.
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The government is aiming for adoption of the text before the summer, but the bet is risky because it is not certain that the unions, even the most reformist, will agree to return so quickly to the consultation table, after a standoff like the one who is committed to pension reform.