The autonomous framework agreement between the European so- so-cial partners on active aging and the intergenerational approach

The idea of an autonomous framework agreement, already foreseen by Euro-pean Social Partners Work Program 2015-2017, came about at the tripartite so-cial summit, when CES (and its EUROCADRES/CEC liaison committee), BusinessEurope, CEEP and SMEunited (previously UEAPME) signed, on March 8, 2017, an agreement that commits to implementation also all the or-ganizations that adhere to them, following the procedures pursuant to article 155 TFEU, within 3 years from its signature (i.e. before ‘March 8, 2020). The undersigned parties recognized as a ratio of the Framework Agreement its link with the “Pillar”: in § 10-b, it states that «Workers have the right to a working environment appropriate to their professional needs, have the right to a work-ing environment that allows them to prolong participation in the labor market».

The agreement goes beyond the logic of minimum health and safety standards, recognizing the right to a working environment adapted to specific professional needs (in compliance with the guiding principle of dating, still largely unful-filled, framework directive 89/391/EEC) and by transferring to companies the commitment to adaptive extension of working life through suitable working

environment and methods. Specifically, the social partners can support the ap-plication of the European Pillar at national level through collective bargaining and the collection and exchange of good practices throughout the European Union. The European Commission underlines that «at Union level, the social partners […] can promote and develop common standards at national or Un-ion level». Despite these ambitious plans, the implementatUn-ion of the Frame-work Agreement is seriously lagging behind the deadline: its formal translation into the languages of the Union has not yet been arranged. The text of the agreement reads that «the measures must be implemented, where necessary at national, sectoral and/or company level, to facilitate the active participation of older workers and ensure their permanence in the labor market up to the legal retirement age and at the same time, to ensure that measures are taken to facili-tate intergenerational transitions in the context of high youth unemployment».

In truth, the unions are sure that adaptive measures must always be taken: the formula “where necessary” is understandably a lexical compromise between the social partners which explains the reasons for the non-practical implementa-tion, postulating a (still not implemented) compromise in the processes of pro-duction and work organization. «These measures should aim to significantly improve the suitability of workers of all ages to remain in the labor market, healthy and active until retirement age». The objectives of the adaptive measures should meet both the union needs (for a subjectively “healthy” job) and employers’ need (for a profitably “active” job) in the logic of the worker life cycle. Another sensitive point of the agreement is the choice of suitable tools to achieve the goal. For unions, the key aspect was the need to adopt col-lective measures, enhancing negotiating activity, without leaving the choice of means to the unilateral employer initiatives (which could instead be individual, direct bargaining between employer and worker). Also in this case, a formula of textual compromise empowers the human resources managers to take unilateral adaptive initiatives. The central point of the agreement is the identification of the responsible subjects for the required measures. Overcoming all autarchic ambi-tions, the social partners said that successfully tackling the challenges arising from demographic change does not depend exclusively on their action, but that EU and national public authorities must ensure a regulatory framework that encourages and promotes active aging and intergenerational approach. The topic «tax incentives for companies investing in active aging» must be ad-dressed (as will be deepened in the volume’s conclusions) with foresight and strategic vision. Central to the logic of the agreement are also public-private partnerships, essential above all for the implementation of solidarity and inclu-sive welfare mix measures for European workers-citizens within the workplace.

Another programmatic hub laden with practical implications is the innovative life cycle approach: the maintenance of adequate productivity in old age is linked to its continuous calibration and remodelling. That is, it is necessary to

over-come the standardization of work, favouring the development of “quality jobs”

to allow people to remain at work until retirement age. This is a point that im-pacts the development of digitalization in the sector, which must be directed towards active aging rather than towards the digital divide. Furthermore, the agreement highlights the bidirectionality of the process of transferring skills be-tween older and younger workers in a healthy intergenerational approach. The most important part of the agreement is that which identifies tools, measures and actions of the social partners, classified in the following five areas of ac-tion.

A – Strategic assessments of workforce demography.

Depending on the context of industrial relations at national level, these strate-gic assessments, periodically updated to ensure that the social partners have all the information necessary to understand and deal with demographic trends in the labor market, could include, inter alia: A. Pyramide current and predicted age, including gender aspects; B. Skills, qualifications and experiences; C. work-ing conditions; D. Specific considerations on health and safety at work in par-ticular for arduous jobs; E. Developments related to digitization and innova-tion. This list, which is not exhaustive, identifies some fields of collaboration between research institutes and social partners: an example is our project, which entrusts the numerous and qualified co-applicants with the scientific in-vestigation of some significant demographic trends. Many of the actions pro-vided for in this agreement can be undertaken without the completion of these assessments, although the unions recommend their urgency and sharing.

B – Health and safety at work

The adequate information, in the availability of the social partners, allows to identify, for example, the tasks that are particularly demanding from a physical and/or mental point of view, and therefore to anticipate, prevent and evaluate the risks to health and safety at the place of work, following the framework di-rective on health and safety at work (89/391/EEC). This should allow identifi-cation of suitable adaptive measures to ensure that “healthy and active” work is carried out up to retirement age. Even if the text of the agreement refers to the need for adaptive interventions only to situations of “excessive demands” to-wards workers, that is to say excessive performance requests from the physical point of view or excessive mental pressure, for unions they must always be considered necessary adaptive interventions: the legal notion of “job performance”

and “exact fulfilment” must be reshaped and calibrated according to the logic of the life cycle. Consequently, the tools and measures to be adopted could in-clude the adaptation of production processes and workplaces; the rescheduling

of workers; strategies for prevention and assessment of health and safety risk, in compliance with existing legislative obligations, including training in the workplace; organizational measures modulated on workers’ physical and psy-chological characteristics.

C – Management of skills and competences

The development of skills, throughout the working life for employability and the safeguarding of the human capital of enterprises, must be promoted. Life-long learning, together with the career development perspective, presupposes a broad and continuous training offer, also central to the intergenerational ap-proach. The social partners have an important role in highlighting the different skills necessary and negotiating their acquisition methods, also in view of the possible mobility from one sector to another: it is the phenomenon of profes-sional transitions, to be addressed and managed in an inclusive and supportive perspective (especially in the financial sector, which represents the focus of this project). The other significant phenomenon in active aging is the development of constantly updated digital skills: the generational gap is, especially in the fi-nancial sector, one of the main problems to be addressed to avoid the early job exclusion of older workers. The agreement identifies, among the actions of the social partners, the motivation for participation and the integration of age management in the development of formal and informal skills during their working life.

D – Work organization

The theme traditionally represents an obstacle for trade union requests for managerial involvement: indeed, it is considered by entrepreneurs to be a “pro-hibited area”, a restricted zone for their unconditional initiative. The agreement in question also suffers from employer resistance to implement an organiza-tional disclosure, where it states that the implementation of an adaptive work organization throughout its life should be done either by collective agreements

«or individually, in accordance with the social dialogue practices in the work-place». Conversely, in implementation of the general principle of legal respon-sibility of the entrepreneur, the agreement clarifies that the legal obligation to guarantee the health and safety and productivity of workers imposes on the employer all possible improvements in terms of assignment of activities. The adaptive measures indicated include: working methods, also referring to work-ing hours; establishment of mixed work teams; transition measures for older workers towards the end of their working life; hiring new staff to cope with the age-related workloads of organic plants.

E – Intergenerational approach

All workers must be assessed based on their abilities, skills and knowledge, re-gardless of age, avoid stereotypes and barriers between age groups. Adjustment tools include: distribution of tasks based on skills/abilities/knowledge; tutor-ing/coaching programs; programs for the mutual transfer of knowledge and skills (between transversal, digital and commercial), between workers of differ-ent age groups; creation of knowledge banks for corporate iddiffer-entity perpetuation; col-laboration with educational institutions or public use services to assist transi-tions to and within the labor market.

4. The European EQF system and professional transitions in active