On Thursday 11 March, the trade union Verdi and insurance group Talanx presented a collective agreement to set up a company pension model based on social partnership. Three years after a law bolstering company pensions came into force, this agreement is the first of its kind to implement the provisions of the text. These allow for a model for financing company pensions that offers no guarantee of return and is based in part on riskier and more profitable financial instruments.
Lack of guarantee a deterrent. The collective agreement presented by services union Verdi and insurance group Talanx marks the first time that the provisions contained in the law to bolster company pensions, which came into force in 1998 (see article n°9939), are actually used. This law paved the way for employer organisations and trade unions to create, solely by negotiating a collective agreement, company pension plans that would no longer oblige employers to guarantee the level of pension payments, with the responsibility of companies limited to the contributions paid by employees.
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