After troublesome negotiations (as reported in last month’s newsletter), trade unions CFDT, CFTC and CFE-CGC and all employers organisations have reached an agreement on labour reform. Last year, President Hollande demanded the social partners to negotiate an agreement on the reform if they wanted to have any say in its outcome. The deal includes a cap on compensation for layoffs, limiting the amount of time workers can dispute unfair layoffs to 24 months, allowing companies to cut wages and work time temporarily in a downturn, as well as broader rights to complementary healthcare insurance, more seats for worker representatives on company boards and an increase in welfare charges paid by employers on short-term contracts. Trade unions CGT and FO have not signed the agreement.
English: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/11/uk-france-labour ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.