France: the metals sector signs a landmark agreement allowing working time adjustments to extend over a three-year reference period

This jobs agreement was finalized on 23 September and secured signatures from at least of four of the five relevant trade union organizations (FO, CFTC, CFDT, and CFE-CGC) with the CGT set to respond by 05 October. It covers several jobs related issues including mobile working, lay offs on economic grounds, and career management. Above all however, this agreement trials working time adjustments that extend over a three year period within the agreement’s five year term.
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Under discussion for a year, the nationwide metals sector employment agreement was finalized on 23 September. To date, four of the five sector’s union organizations have stated they will sign the much awaited text that was negotiated with the one of the metal sector’s major employer’s body the UIMM (Union des industries et des métiers de la métallurgie), which caters to 42,000 businesses and 1.5 million employees.


The main provision in the twenty-one-page text is the piloting of working time adj

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