Collective guarantees that turn work into a public utility that serves the general interest through the a right: that is the aim of our national development of each member of staff. Our project is not collective bargaining agreement that you utopian. The winning of a national wage structure means will find detailed in this publication, of which that its application has already been set as a challenge. Imagine 600,000 copies have been distributed. It the asset that a common reference point would represent in is addressed to all the profession’s terms of metalworkers’ salaries and grades, binding on all employees, regardless of function, employers regardless of company size! In certain company size or industrial sector. To unite départements, the first steps have been taken to regain proper two million metalworkers, from blue-collar salary levels by achieving an improvement in the minimum workers to engineers, in a common goal guaranteed. The compulsory annual negotiations, thanks to is the best way to counter the rivalry encouraged between our action of consulting employees and re-examining the employees in the name of competition. subject of salaries, are going to lead to At a time when the Prime Minister is A single noticeable improvements in purchasing aiming another blow to the work contract power and to constitute, so long as by making job insecurity the general rule, national collective employees seize them, as many support we want to reaffirm for each and bargaining points. Our unions are making an effort everyone the right to self-development agreement to enliven these negotiations and make at work and to have qualifications them known. They are a right to be respected and recognised through for all metalworkers exercised everywhere. Together, decision makers and subcontractors, salary, grade and career path. Our proposed agreement, which is not a take-it-or-leave-it small and large enterprises, let us come together to regain proposal, is based on the need to give renewed value to the our collective rights by acting in defence of our claims. No, status of work in a way that ensures everyone’s employment work is not a commodity! It determines our lives, the future of security: a professional career path that guarantees the totality our children and economic growth. Let’s open up the debate of rights, from recruitment to retirement, without ever being to win the rights and guarantees of a national collective confronted by unemployment or job insecurity. It is employees bargaining agreement. Let’s respond to employer and through their intelligence and know-how that make a company government intransigence with united and committed collective what it is; in return they have a right to social progress. It is action. the condition that will once again ensure that work is seen as Daniel Sanchez, General Secretary of the FTM-CGT 1

Editorial

Le Dossier du Courrier Fédéral

One for all

Working together for a fairer world

Metal industry

Two million employees, one national co

A mutual concern Our aim is to gather together employees across all metal industry sectors. It has led us to propose a national collective bargaining agreement for metalworkers. At present, seventy territorial collective agreements and eighteen national agreements cover the majority of people. There is one collective agreement for engineers and managers and five for employees in the following fields : Jewellery/silver work Recreational boating Farm machinery Ventilation, thermal and refrigeration materials Automotive services. We are submitting this project to employees to debate, amend and use in their disputes. The national collective bargaining agreement is a proposal to be built and developed in the course of disputes, negotiations and achievements.

. . . . .

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ollective bargaining agreement Qualification grading

Salary structure Men and women acquire knowledge throughout their lives

Qualifications A tool against employee/employer inequality, they enable employees to position themselves independently of an employer’s criteria and ensure recognition of each employee for what they are, not as they may be judged by an employer. A factor in the fight against discrimination, qualification belongs to the employee and develops throughout their life, which explains the need for a career path. The right to training throughout one’s working life reinforces this idea.

Grades The grading and remuneration of people and their qualifications means: - guaranteeing employee recognition. It also : - pushes enterprises to optimise the way they organise work and the activities of their staff; - enables them to evaluate the potential evolution of the enterprise with regard to the attributes of its personnel. It is thus a factor of economic and social efficiency. It is the totality of these attributes that constitutes a person’s qualifications. They must be recognised : - by a good salary level within the salary structure; - over time, so that everyone benefits from a smooth career development path.

Entry thresholds Neither recognised skills nor experience CAP-BEP BAC/BAC professionnel BTS-DUT First degree Qualified engineer Doctorate

Requested min wage (Smic) of 1500 euros Min wage (Smic) + 20% Min wage (Smic) + 40% Min wage (Smic) + 60% Min wage (Smic) + 80% Min wage (Smic) x 2 Min wage (Smic) x 2.5

The starting point for an employee without a recognised diploma would be the minimum wage (Smic). proposals – a single grading structure Entry threshold Neither recognised skills nor experience After 1 year

Level I

Coefficient 200 220

Salary in euros 1500 claimed as min wage (Smic) 1650

CAP/BEP

II

240 260

1800 1950

BAC/BAC Pro

III

280 300

2100 2250

BAC + 2 BTS/DUT

IV

320 340

2400 2550

BAC + 3 – 4 – Degree

V

360 380

2700 2850

BAC + 5 – MEng

VI

400 440 480

3000 3300 3600

Building a grading structure : points of reference

BAC + 8 – PhD

VII

A single salary grid, from the shop-floor worker to the engineer : - A unique value for each point; - The starting point on the structure for an employee with neither recognised skills nor experience would be the minimum wage; - A sixth and seventh level to cover the totality of qualifications of the branch and to ensure a career path for each category.

Every employee, regardless of coefficient, may start and finish in the same career stream. Thus, a worker who entered with a coefficient of 200 may finish their career with a coefficient of 400 without being a manager who starts at that point.

500 560 600 640 680 720 760 800 900 1000

3750 4200 4500 4800 5100 5400 5700 6000 6750 7500

Point value = 7.5 €, Min wage (Smic) at 1/07/05 = 1217.91 € 3

Metal industry The structure The grid is structured around seven levels based on the realities of enterprise work organisation and employees’ professional capabilities. These seven levels are divided into two grades for the first six levels and ten grades for level VII. The grading structure is a fundamental point of reference for each employee’s self-evaluation and positioning within both the profession and the enterprise. It is also a consistent tool for the personnel management of the enterprise and for enterprise growth.

Career progression The starting point for an employee coming into metal industry without any recognised

qualifications (diploma, certificate, higher degree or APEL) would be at the level of coefficient 200 and for the minimum wage. They would straight away be offered training to enable them to achieve coefficient 220 after one year, and coefficient 240/CAP threshold after two. Change of coefficient would be compulsory every five years if that has not already happened. Change of coefficient after every continuing professional development course. Doubling of grade and therefore of salary in euros throughout the course of a professional career with progression being fastest in the first third: Salary would be multiplied by 1.5 in the course of this period;

After 25 years, the salary would be multiplied by 1.8. Application of the law of Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning (APEL) enabling the justification and obtaining of regular progression towards higher grades. Strict application of Article L.132.27 of the Code of Work concerning the annual compulsory negotiations and especially the obligation to undertake measures to ensure the equal treatment of men and women. Putting an end to all forms of discrimination (using the 16 November 2001 Act). Ending union discrimination and taking into account the experience of activists.

Advantages for everyone The thirteenth month Negotiation of an unconditional thirteenth month for all, regardless of presence, presenteeism or other factors.

Length of service bonus This is calculated on the so-called Minimum Hierarchical Remuneration (Rémunérations minimales hiérarchiques, RMH) scales which are lower than the minimum wage (by an order of 30 to 40%). The RMH, negotiated in the Chambres patronales départmentales*, have not be re-

valued for a long time. The length of service bonus is forfeited with a change of enterprise.

(CDD), tenured contract (CDI) or temporary/ interim posting.

Our proposals : - Calculation of the length of service bonus based on actual salary levels, - 1% per year length of service up to the end of career; - Career concept taking into account the overall number of years worked in enterprises within the profession, - That the bonus be gained whatever the employee’s status – fixed-term contract

Meal allowance This is awarded to employees working at least three hours between 21.00 and 06.00 or who have worked seven hours during the day of which at least one is after 21.00. The amount is equal to 1.5 hours at the minimum wage rate regardless of the employee’s grade. *The body that bargains on behalf of local employers

Seven career progression levels Level I: the employee is capable of undertaking work without recognised qualifications or experience. The experience gained at work, together with professional training, must lead at the end of two years to progression to level II grade. Level II: The employee is capable of undertaking work and achieving a predefined result. They can talk about and report on the tasks to be undertaken. This level corresponds to department of Education Levels V and Vbis. The holder of a CAPBEP or similar qualifications could not be graded lower than Level II on the grid. Level III: The employee is capable of undertaking and achieving work that requires analysis and use of straightforward information in line with set objectives. This level allows the employee to suggest or organise the work or task with a rational methodology and use of available tools and

techniques. They are able to present an argument, along with supporting proofs, offer of technical solutions and analysis based on observation of the different factors making up the work. This level enables them to report verbally or in writing on the actual work process and to contribute to its development. It corresponds to department of Education Levels V and Vbis. The holder of a Baccalaureate or Professional Baccalaureate or similar qualifications could not be graded lower than Level III. Level IV: The employee is capable of undertaking and achieving work of a complex nature, using a certain amount of initiative over the choice of means of implementation according to an overall programme. This level allows them to use complex technical tools with a methodology appropriate to requirements. They are able to present an argument, along with supporting proofs, offer of technical solutions and analysis based on 4

observation of the different factors making up the work. They are able to help define the specific characteristics of a project in the context of continual improvement. This level enables them to report verbally or in writing on the actual work process and to contribute to its development as well as to implement effective team work. It corresponds to department of Education Level IV. The holder of a BTS-DUT or similar qualifications could not be graded lower than Level IV. Level V: The employee is capable of coordinating work of a complex nature according to a particular instruction of a technical, economic, administrative or financial management nature. They can take actions of a conceptual, synthetic or management kind in a spirit of initiative and innovation according to an overall programme. This level allows them to use technically complex tools with a methodology appropriate to requirements. They are able

Engineers and managers The only category of metalworkers to already have a national collective agreement, engineers and managers, cannot but be interested in the mobilisation of all employees towards a similar provision. The obtaining of a solid base of collective guarantees for all metalworkers would reinforce the need to enrich and renew the engineer/manager convention. Conversely, certain elements of the current convention may serve to illustrate upgraded guarantees for everyone, (retirement and redundancy allowances, development of grading according to age, seniority, travel in connection with work…). In a logical hierarchy of guarantees, the engineer/ manager convention could be complementary to a metalworkers’ convention, and could take into account the specifics of this category. To enable employees in positions of specialist or hierarchical responsibility to fully and smoothly assume their role in the enterprise calls the drawing up of new rights.

to present an argument, along with supporting proofs, offer of technical solutions and analysis based on observation of the different factors making up the work. They are able to help define the specific characteristics of a project in the context of continual improvement. This level enables them to report verbally or in writing on the actual work process and to contribute to its development as well as to implement effective team work. It corresponds to Levels III of the national curriculum. The holder of a BAC + 3 or BAC + 4 or similar qualifications could not be graded lower than Level V. Level VI: The employee is capable of coordinating work of a complex nature according to a particular instruction of a technical, economic, administrative or financial management nature. They can take actions of a conceptual, synthetic or management kind in a spirit of initiative and innovation according to an overall

For example : - Recognition of the right of refusal and initiative; - True equality between men and women in terms of salary and access to technical and hierarchical responsibilities; - Guarantees over the content and process of individual appraisal interviews and eventual appeal procedures; - The measuring of working time in hours (outlawing in particular flat-rate practices); - The right to fair negotiation of workloads and the means supplied to achieve objectives; - The maintaining and extending of career development guarantees (currently only the first eighteen years are covered); - The taking into account of mobility; - Recognition of travel time as part of working time; - Quarterly validation for postings abroad; - Recognition of the right to information and use of the Internet to communicate within and outside the enterprise; - Validation for retirement entitlement of years spent studying.

programme. This level allows them to design technically complex tools with a methodology appropriate to requirements. They are able to offer technical solutions based on well thought through analysis of the components of a project. They are able to help define the specific characteristics of a project in the context of continual improvement or in the search for solutions. This level enables them to report verbally or in writing on the actual work process and to contribute to its development as well as to implement effective team work. It corresponds to department of Education Level II. The holder of a BAC + 5, an engineering diploma or similar qualifications could not be graded lower than Level VI. Level VII: The employee is capable of organising, orientating or taking decisions about the accomplishment of work of a complex nature in accordance with general guidance. They can implement elements of 5

a conceptual, synthetic or management kind in a spirit of initiative and innovation according to an overall programme. This level allows them to design technically complex and innovative tools based on fundamental research. They are able to offer technical solutions based on well thought through analysis of the components of a project or on fundamental research. They are able to define the specific characteristics of a project in the context of continual improvement or in the search for solutions. This level allows them to anticipate major economic or technological trends, to submit them to and share them with a wider group either nationally or internationally. It corresponds to department of Education Level I. The holder of a BAC + 8 or similar qualification or an engineer/research scientist could not be graded lower than Level VII.

Metal industry

Working hours and their organisation

Winning the working hours struggle The legislative easing voted by the parliamentary majority on the right has resulted in increased pressure by employers to lengthen working hours and render null and void the 35-hour working week law. Even if the principle in favour perpetuates the agreements between enterprises that followed the two «Aubry» laws, employers will try to use the different measures adopted by the government to attack any shortening of working hours. Over and above the notice of termination of the agreements on the spurious basis of economic difficulties, we are witnessing – under cover of enhanced competitiveness – the introduction of annual working hours (annualisation) and salary adjustment in organisations whose employees and unions have until now managed to escape. We are also beginning to see a noticeable increase in agreements or amendments affecting night work or weekend staffing levels. The means given to employers to enable them to increase the amount of allowed overtime, the lowering of overtime rates, the multiform use of «time savings account» and the misleading claim that employees wishing to work more will earn more (when it is employers who decide whether or not overtime may be worked), all this constitutes a very real anti-employment weapon. We must regain the upper hand, regain ground in the face of management’s calling into question the reductions in working hours achieved since 1998. We therefore intend to give greater force to our demand for reduced working hours in SMEs, especially among those employing less than 20 members of staff, 90% of whom currently work some 39 or 40 hours per week. We reaffirm our claims in matters of time as well as reorganisation of work.

Defining effective working time The legal definition arising from the 19 January 2000 Act should be rewritten in order to stop the abusive restrictions imposed by employers. Working hours are those that employees put at the disposal of their employer. It is the latter’s responsibility to organise these effectively. That includes the physiological obligations of food and rest that efficient working requires. That therefore means time spent getting in and out of

working clothes, rest periods (breaks and meals), training and moving about the workplace. It is also essential to rein back on the practice of basing salaries on nominal working hours, ignoring any overtime.

Special sickness or accident provisions An employee’s job must be kept open throughout any period of laid-off time. The same applies to their salary.

Employment The number of new posts must be at least proportional to the decrease in working hours. All recruitment must be based on open-ended contracts (CDI) and free of discrimination. Jobs must be open to those leaving education without qualifications, to the long-term unemployed and to the disabled. The new posts must be offered at the same salary level and at the same grade as other employees.

Forms of Reduction of Work Duration (RWD) RWD may be achieved by a reduction in hours over a week or a fortnight (32 hours/38 hours). When RWD is taken in rest days, employees working 39 hours should benefit from 23 rest days per year or 20 days for 38.5 hours. Employees are free to choose which days to take, giving their superiors seven days notice. Sick leave does not give rise to any RWD allowance, as is already the case with annual leave within the metal industry generally.

Maximum length and extent of working time Daily: - 9 hours maximum Weekly: - 44 hours maximum, 40 hours over a tenweek consecutive period and without specific exemptions. Rest: - Rest time between work sessions should be increased to a minimum of 13 hours. 6

- Weekly rest period should be two consecutive days including Sunday. The working week should not exceed 5 days.

Overtime Overtime should be accounted for as of the 36th hour regardless of company size. It should only be required at times of temporary work overload. If frequent recourse is made to it, overtime should be investigated by the RWD Agreement Commission in order to ascertain whether the number of openended contract hires corresponds to this anomalous situation. The follow-up Commission is made up of the trade unions represented in the workplace. Overtime

Part-time working No annualisation or salary adjustment for part-time staff. Such employees must be able to choose between 10% reduction in time for the same monthly wages or to continue working their current number of hours for a 10% increase in hourly rate, or indeed, when the time worked equals or exceeds 32 hours, to be able to work 35 full-time hours if they so wish. Additional hours are left to the employee’s free choice.

Casual work and subcontracting Employees on fixed contracts (short term job) or casual workers may only be recruited to tide over during a temporary increase in activity or to cover absence. The salaries of temporary staff who have had their hours reduced for RWD reasons must be maintained. Commercial contracts between contractors and subcontractors as well as the organisational arrangements between groups should include clauses obliging the respecting of issues relating RWD. At a change of temporary or fixed-term contracts, no «cascading slippage» of posts should be allowed that would allow an employer to perpetuate casual working.

Annualisation and working hours adjustment

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The fight over working hours is inseparable from the fight for jobs.

compensation should preferably take the form of time off in lieu, which should correspond to the actual amount of overtime worked at the overtime rate. The annual overtime allowance must be set across all territorial conventions at 85 hours and its remuneration set from the 39th hour at +50%.

From the beginning of the 1980s, the Code of labour (employment law) has authorised the reaching of agreements allowing working hours to be organised over all or part of a year, with adjustments between periods of high and low workload, high workload periods almost systemically involving Saturday working, and so a 6-day week. This has been justified in particular in seasonal industries (tourism, food products…). However, slowly but surely, seasonality has given way, for the sake of profitability, to changes in operational activity or order book variations. Today, hundreds of thousands of metalworkers put up with such work cycles. However, it is no more acceptable today than yesterday, for example, that cars should need manufacturing on a Saturday or Sunday on the sole pretext that this is to the employer’s economic advantage. 7

The Second «Aubry» Law obliges employers to provide economic and social justifications for the introduction of working hours adjustment. Economic justification will not be allowed should it be found that working hours adjustment is motivated solely by work group or corporate profitability. Indeed one can question the «social» benefit of any organisation of working time that only puts constraints on family life. We remain therefore resolutely opposed to the annualisation of working hours and the adjustments that ensue. Hundreds of thousands of metalworkers already know this situation, however, many of them for some years now. Consequently, by virtue of the compulsory annual negotiations over company working conditions and working hours’ arrangements, we propose that new agreements be negotiated and subject to the democratic rules of collective bargaining that require majority validation.

Night and shift work In metal industry, only technological constraints should justify working hours’ arrangements requiring night work or continuous shift work. Night work must be paid at 150%. The longest time period for continuous shift work should be reduced to 31 hours a week. In any event, these kinds of working arrangements should only be introduced by majority agreement. Night work by women is forbidden.

Standby duty Recourse to any form of standby duty should happen only in exceptional circumstances – whose seriousness must be established – or for technological monitoring reasons. Time spent on standby duty must be paid as working time, and up-rated when intervention is required.

Metal industry

8

Training

For sought after qualifications Although the mechanism for professional training arising from the 1971 Agreement has enabled the training of hundreds of thousands of metalworkers, it has generated great inequalities depending on age, gender, category and company size. The new mechanism changes the landscape. The new context created by the National Inter-professional Agreement of 20 September 2003 and the Metal Industry Agreement of 20 July 2004, unanimously signed by the union organisations, sets out the basis for gaining improvements in our enterprises. It requires ownership on the part of each employee, organising of debates by union members and a strong mobilisation of forces at all levels in order to win the guarantees contained in our national collective bargaining agreement whose detail we want to negotiate in the branches. The CGT is campaigning for a new salaried work statute that includes employment security whose rights base attaches to the individual and that is collectively guaranteed and binding on employers. Access to professional training must enable all metalworkers to reach retirement age with higher qualifications than at the beginning of their career, in a way that allows their salary to at least double in real terms. Professional training is a toolbox to help all employees develop their own professional and personal career within their chosen company, branch or territory. It is a key element of employment security.

New rights - Any metalworker must have the right as an individual, guaranteed, transferable and binding on employers, to training equal to 10% of working hours; - The individual right to training (DIF – Droit individuel à la formation) must be the responsibility solely of the employee and binding on his or her employer. It must enable the employee to change activity or profession, or to achieve the next qualification level; - Time spent in training is effective working time and remunerated as such; - Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning (APEL) which enables someone to gain all or part of a professional title-bearing diploma or of a certificate of professional metal industry (CQPM – Certificat de Qualification Professionelle de la Métallurgie) constitutes an opportunity to progress in one’s field, to prepare a professional conversion or to find work; - Diplomas, titles and certificates must be

- Managers When managing, managers have specific responsibility for employees’ training and must have the right to oversee the quality of delivery practices. Since delivery practices eligible under the DIF exclude those associated with induction training, the line between them and those of competency training must be systematically clarified.

Professional training is an element of employment security. recognised and linked to entry thresholds of salary grades; - The training programme should meet the changing needs of employees and the development of the enterprise. It must be subject to negotiation with union organisations; - Equal access to training by men and women must be guaranteed; - The replacement of employees in training must be guaranteed to ensure that each metalworker may exercise their rights (special measures having been adopted for very small businesses).

Alternance/Sandwich placements, apprenticeships and permanent placements for young people The control and accreditation of training programme content are decided jointly. The rights of apprentices and alternance/ sandwich trainees should be aligned with other employees. Their montly wages must be based on the guarantees attached to the qualification level sought. The standard for professionalisation contracts must be that of the open-ended contract. Apprenticeship must end in permanent employment. 9

- Mentoring All employees at some stage in their professional career must pass on some of their know-how. In order to do so they must have benefited from mentoring training and have been awarded the appropriate certificate. Recognition as a mentor must be reflected financially and time must be allowed for it. - Employment To guarantee each individual’s right to work, training and career development, we claim, among others: - The creation of a register of those seeking work to complement the register of staff recruitment and departure; - The adoption as social standard of the fulltime open-ended contract; - The maintaining of the contract at times of low workload, company closure and redundancy until the employee has found new employment of an equivalent kind and at an equivalent montly wages; - The capping of overtime at 85 hours per year per employee; - The strict limiting of the use of casual posts to cover sickness, maternity leave or leave due to an accident at work.

Metal industry

Retirement

Defending and reinforcing this right The retirement system today is being severely weakened by the «Fillon» Law of July 2003, which as regards the general scheme adds to the Balladur government’s measures of August 1993 and to the agreements on supplementary pensions of 1996 and 2003. Under these conditions, the first of the collective retirement guarantees for metalworkers remains full retirement at age 60. A benchmark claim that everyone understands, this calls for a pension equal to at least 75% of the best paid years of work, a minimum pension equal to the minimum wage and an indexation of pensions to salaries. To calculate pension amounts, these demands take into account precarious professional careers, enforced part-time work, late entry to employment (for example, after higher education) as well as time spent in training.

Early retirement Early retirement due to work of a particularly arduous nature or exposure to toxic substances. A year for every three years of particularly arduous work or of exposure to toxic products, with a lower limit of 55 and 50 depending on the level of danger. A measure joined with preventive action to eliminate all causes of bad working conditions. Definitions of arduous work: - continuous or semi-continuous working hours (as defined by the 1975 Law), night work or anti-social working hours; - repetitive work (including the 30 December 1975 Law definitions of assembly line work); - exposure to intense and prolonged noise (for example, presses); - heavy load handling; - in general, all work that may cause lasting damage to health: musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), carpal tunnel syndrome, muscular hyper-contractions, osteo-articular pain, back pain, insomnia, deafness; - oven work (as defined under the 1975 Law); - exposure to bad weather. Exposure to toxic substances: – Contact via the skin or through the inhaling

There is a growing demand among employees for early retirement from work of a particularly arduous nature or from exposure to toxic substances. of one or more dangerous, carcinogenic, mutagenic or repro-toxic products. Smoke, in particular that resulting from welding or foundry work, is also to be included among these toxic products. – Acquisition of the right to early retirement following recognition of professional sickness/ disease. The lower limit would be flexible depending on the extent of invalidity and severity of exposure. –Full retirement financed in part by the employer responsible and their contractor, by the sector and by Industry. So as not to undermine existing working conditions, each early retirement should be matched by a new recruit.

Procedural rules Calculation of rights A minimum of one quarter’s anticipated retirement for each year of exposure. Pension at the full rate - early retirement; - no penalty in the pension calculation; - increase for the settlement of the number 10

of quarters equal to those gained for arduousness of work - individual rights’ scoring kept up to date by the national employees’ pension authority (Caisse nationale d’assurance veillesse des travailleurs salariés (CNAVTS))

Long careers The content of the Decree of October 2003 regarding long-career employees does not meet employee expectations due to the restrictions limiting the real possibilities of early retirement. That is why we are continuing to insist on the right for all metalworkers having started work early and having had a long career to take early retirement without financial penalty after 40 years of accredited contributions to the general scheme.

Health at work

Preventing risks, rethinking work Attacks on health are a characteristic of the metal industry sector. Risk prevention, improvements in working conditions and the reinforcement of health and safety regulations are all urgent matters.

Work organisation Every employee may give his or her opinion about the organisation of work. They must be allowed to create restful workspaces that shield them from stress. They must be allowed to challenge objectives set and to insist on knowing their purpose. If they are not listened to or in case of conflict, they may bring in a member of the Committee for Health and Safety and Working Conditions (CHSCT). Every meeting of employee representatives (DP – délégués du personnel) and the CHSCT will review all work organisation actions as well as any situations of harassment that may arise.

Work rates A return to the standards fixed by the International Labour Office (ILO) that regulates work rates by adapting them to individual morphology and lowering them to 9%. This reduction is open to discussion so that each employee may find their own rate. Ergonomists rightly question these standards as not taking average times into account. Nonetheless, they have served as reference points over many years. Today, with work by objectives being imposed by employers, they no longer work and rates are often at 120 when the standards cited above limit them to 100. That is why we must reinstate the ILO standards and aim to get them reduced. When work is repetitive, we propose: - the introduction of micro-breaks by cycle times; - 10% for cycle times over 3 minutes; - 15% between 3 minutes and 1 minute - 20% for cycle under a minute. The introduction of a break, paid as working time, after a minimum of two consecutive hours of repetitive, shift or exposed work. No incentive may be substituted in place of these breaks. Efficient work organisation to include the freedom for employees to move around and to talk.

today enable the list of products dangerous in the workplace to be significantly limited. Members of the CHSCT should have access to all the health and safety data sheets for products used in the workplace with the obligation on the part of employers to communicate them.

Total compensation At the moment, compensation for accidents at work and professional illness is made on the basis of a lump sum well below the actual level of harm. For example, for an accident at AZF in Toulouse, an employee hurt at work would be compensated less than a citizen hurt in the same manner in the street, which is a blatant injustice.

Early retirement due to work of a particularly arduous nature or exposure to toxic substances (See the section on retirement on page 10)

The Committee for Health and Safety and Working Conditions (CHSCT) The CGT is proposing the introduction of new powers (right to consultation and to propose a motion) for the CHSCTs and new guarantees for employees: - That a single risk assessment document with a service-by-service and job-by-job ranking must be put permanently at the disposal of the CHSCT. The single document must give systematic rise to a prevention plan designed to eliminate all risks; - The right to be warned with access at all times to the register of serious and imminent hazards; - Unrestricted access to the first aid register in order to combat «cheating» over declarations of work-related accidents and illnesses; - Unrestricted application of the right to expert opinion; - Reinforced protection for medically disabled employees; - Embargo on dismissal of any employee for unfitness resulting from an accident at work or a work-related illness; - Unrestricted application of the right to individual and collective withdrawal; - Minimum of one medical check-up per year.

Precaution as a principle for all products The strict application of the Rio de Janeiro agreements, international agreements signed by France and the rest of the European Community countries, should

Nor would such an employee have recourse to the law. Only the Social Security could have recourse against the wrongdoer for the lump-sum compensation. We therefore propose that compensation operate on the basis of overall damages: - material damages: compensation for disability or professional damages; - non-material damages: moral, physical (pain), loss of amenity, aesthetic.

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Metal industry

The new rights

Restoring dignity to the status of employee The reinforcement of the principle of public and social order means guaranteeing the hierarchy of norms. Yet the Social Dialogue Law passed by Parliament attacks this hierarchy by challenging the favour principle. The 4 May 2004 Law on social dialogue has overturned the collective bargaining rules. It allows the employer – and with this as the aim – to negotiate internally measures that are less favourable and that undermine branch agreements. By leading the battle with employees, however, we can insist that our collective agreements be respected by inserting an article forbidding exemption. For the CGT, professional branch collective agreements may, as far as the law is concerned, only add to new social guarantees. In the same way, corporate agreements must contain «pluses» compared to collective agreements of the branch. The existing social and public order at a national level must be «protected» from European texts through the application of a non-regression clause: a more favourable national text may not be called into question by a European standard or text (directive, ruling). Real public and social order has still to be constructed at a European level. In fact, the few social questions on which European institutions are competent to legislate, the rule of unanimity which prevails over most of the others, and the lack of eagerness by employers to negotiate on anything, reduces the social dimension of the European construct to the level of poor relation.

The national collective bargaining agreement and Europe It is obvious that a national collective bargaining agreement for employees in the metal industries in France must not be called into question by the social provisions on a European front. The CGT proposes that the rights and guarantees that might be put in place in Europe should not undermine those already won in the different Community countries but that, on the contrary, they should reinforce them. That is what we mean by a non-regression clause.

Principles and rules for collective bargaining in the metal industry sector The preamble to the Constitution and Work Code (employment law) make the right to

negotiate a right of the employee not a right of company chiefs. The exercise of this employee right is delegated to trade union organisations. It is therefore a matter of negotiating employee claims. Collective bargaining only therefore makes sense if it betters the lot of employees rather than underpinning management options. That is why the CGT is upfront about its attachment to the idea of public and social order and to the hierarchy of right to work norms. It is thus the favour principle that breathes life into the statement of norms and levels of negotiation by ensuring that the most favourable text is adopted.

New bargaining rules The putting in place of a majority system for the validation of agreements suppose that one can measure, at every bargaining level, the electoral weight of trade union 12

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Negotiation only makes sense if it improves the lot of employees.

organisations. If the electoral weight of each is known at an enterprise level, taking into account the results from the regular professional elections as well as knowledge at both the metal industry sector and interprofessional levels supposes the putting in place of appropriate procedures. For the branch, we therefore propose to organise professional elections on the same day, or during the same period (a week), every two years. These elections – which would enable

at all stages of the negotiations as in the work following the application of an agreement.

Social representation at an institutional level The time needed for preparatory meetings and for the representation of trade union organisations at a social institution level must be remunerated in entirety by the employer.

Maternity

national representativeness of each union organisation – would of course also serve to elect staff delegates and members of the Works Council. We would thus have cohesive provisions for the collective bargaining rules for the profession, with an identical system for the validation of agreements, by majority principle, and equally applicable to the right of complaint, the majority agreement principle thereby eliminating the existing right of opposition.

Respecting all the players At all negotiation stages, all participants must be considered to have equal rights. Management should not choose union representatives any more than it should unilaterally decide the choices, themes and schedule of the negotiations. All organisations concerned must be included

A matter of individual choice, maternity has a social function. Both the future and the development of society require that part of wealth created be invested to meet the needs of future generations. This implies the respect of and improvement in individual rights before, during and after giving birth and supposes: - Respect on the part of the employer of the accepted right to a monthly medical examination during working hours, refunded in total by the Social Security; - Pre-natal classes during working hours without loss of monthly wages; - A reduction in working hours per day and fitting out of a pregnancy-compatible workstation without loss of monthly wages; - Paid maternity leave upped from 16 to 24 weeks; - Paid adoption leave of 12 weeks - Paid paternity leave of 15 working days, fractionable at the employee’s request, and of 20 days for multiple pregnancies, to be taken during the four months following the birth or adoption. It should be accounted for as working time for annual leave purposes; - Management help with childcare and child care facilities.

Fighting all forms of discrimination All forms of discrimination based on ethnic origin, nationality or religion as well as those concerning women, young people, sexual orientation or relating to health, and maternity should be penalised. In the same way, all forms of harassment and all discriminatory practices for political or philosophical reasons or trade union activities should be punished. True professional equality in access to 13

employment, in matters of remuneration, in career path, in qualifications or in right to training should be applied to every employee without discrimination. To this end, there should be an obligation on elected representatives and employees to comparatively assess evolution of the professional situation at least every five years. New means should be given to trade unions and staff representative institutions, in particular in matters of proof. The elements concerning evaluation of discriminatory practices in corporate social reports should be strengthened and a follow-up commission appointed. The unions must be able to appear before civil and penal authorities as a third party in matters of racist, sexist or homophobic discrimination, words, acts and attitudes in the workplace. A register of those seeking employment should be created to complement the register of those leaving and entering the workplace.

Fighting redundancies The following proposals revolve around two essentials: - obtaining of true rights to intervene in the management of the enterprise and of the industry; - achievement of a new work statute guaranteeing employees continuity of contract (employment, monthly wages, training) throughout their professional life regardless of employer, particularly in the same branch. - A new definition of redundancy for economic reasons Redundancy constitutes the last resort if economic difficulties are real and serious and recognised as such by both parties; Economic redundancy is allowable only when it can be proven that the abolition of posts is not motivated solely by the wish to improve corporate or group financial profitability. - New rights of intervention in the management of businesses Employee representatives sit on corporate decision-making bodies (board of directors, supervisory board) and have the right of discussion and vote;

Metal industry

- Consultation and rights of suspension of redundancy proceedings The period for consultation with employees’ representatives is designed to enable the contesting of redundancy motives and the eventual drawing up of alternatives proposals; The elected personnel have the right to suspend redundancy proceedings for a period of time in order to examine the different hypotheses. If disagreement between the parties persists, it is up to the employer to ask the judge to lift the right to suspension and to begin redundancy proceedings. Responsibility falls therefore on the judge to ensure that the redundancies conform to legal requirements, i.e. that the economic difficulties are real and serious. In addition, the CGT proposes reinforcement of the administrative controls for verifications of economic motives. - Maintaining of the employment contract

When redundancy for real and serious economic difficulties is legally pronounced, employers are legally responsible at the professional branch or territory level for formulating concrete proposals on the part of their employee: new posts, conversion leave, reclassification, professional training… The validity of the proposals is overseen by a three-way territorial Commission (the Codef composed of local councillors, employee and management trade unions and representatives of the industrial committee). This obligation is evidenced by maintenance of the employment contract, of qualifications and of seniority in the employment pool until a mutually agreed solution is reached. - Nullifying of the procedure and reinstatement Failings in the information and consultation procedure with employee representatives render the redundancy plan null and void. Any unjustified redundancy, for whatever reason, is declared invalid by the Conseil de Prud’hommes* and opens the way to reinstatement of the employee in the shortest possible time.

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Inter-enterprise or industry committees (automotive, aeronautical, electronic, mechanical, foundries) are set up to facilitate the information, consultation and deliberation on business strategies, the monitoring of eventual plans to safeguard employment in the case of redundancies, with the aim, in a professional social security framework, of employment continuity.

True professional equality must be applied to access to employment, remuneration, and career path.

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Attribution and monitoring of public financial aid The transfer of production activities in France as elsewhere results in the suspension of public funding, as well as the reimbursement of previously paid monies; In general, employee representative bodies have wide powers at their disposal to control the granting of public funds to business. * « balanced panel (court) elected by employers and employees that rules on disputes between employers and employees or trade unions relating to statutory terms and conditions of employment»

Obligations and financial compensation A contribution from businesses before any redundancies could be allocated to a regional fund for the development of employment, enabling the coordination of public and bank financing towards the setting up of activity and work-generating projects on the basis of duly controlled applications. A reform of the contribution system would modulate employers’ contribution rate in relation to the overall salary/added value mass, including financial revenues to encourage employment. The introduction of a «bonus/malus» social contribution system would make it more expensive for those who penalised employment. The doubling of redundancy indemnities.

Fédération des travailleurs de la métallurgie CGT 263 rue de Paris - 93514 Montreuil cedex - [email protected] 15

Metal industry

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