The Axa Group management, UNI Europa Finance and all the French representative trade unions (CFDT, CFE/CGC, CGT, UDPA/UNSA) have signed a framework agreement on the anticipating of changes to occur within the Axa entities located within Europe.
This agreement, negotiated within the European Works Council (EWC), sets out a social dialogue approach whose objective is to better anticipate changes within the sector in order to adapt the employees’ skills to future needs and thus to preserve employment.
Determined to better manage the changes necessary to maintain AXA’s competitiveness in Europe, social partners are taking the following three main commitments:
1. The Group management will regularly inform the European Works Council members about what it is doing to adapt AXA’s strategy to the evolution of the European macroeconomic environment, as well as about the changes in the insurance sector. The harmonisation of the level of information between the various partners will improve the quality of the social dialogue within the Group.
2. A “European skills and employment observatory” is established within the EWC Bureau. It will undertake some forward thinking about the evolution of the occupations within the Group, in order to anticipate changes and list the actions to be carried out to support such changes and preserve employment.
3. Partners are planning various measures to preserve the employability of the AXA Group’s employees in Europe and to support employees whose position might be threatened by the changes within the sector and the company.
“When faced with the deep economic and social changes that Europe is currently going through, I deeply believe that a stronger, sincere and constructive dialogue will help us efficiently lead the changes necessary to maintain our competitiveness. I very much welcome this unanimous agreement which will allow us to address those questions at the European level and I would like to thank all the social partners who were able transcend national views in order to build this new balance. I would also like to say that to me the work undertaken by the Group EWC is extremely important and fully embedded in the Group’s governance” said Henri de Castries, Chairman and CEO of AXA at the signing of this agreement, in front of about a hundred European Group employee representatives gathered in Paris.
Daniel Vaulot, European Works Council Secretary, added: “This agreement is unique in our sector. It offers significant means to secure employees’ positions in Europe. In an uncertain environment, this strong signal shows the dynamism of the social relations within AXA’s EWC, with the aim of finding alternative solutions and refusing to accept things as inevitable”.
This framework agreement is concluded for a term of three years, renewable by tacit agreement, and is applicable to all AXA Group entities located in Europe, in conjunction with local employee representatives. AXA Group entities that so wish will be able to go beyond this framework agreement and sign a specific agreement. AXA Assistance has, in particular, decided to use this opportunity.
Source : Axa Group
