In France employees of some government-owned corporations enjoy a special retirement plan, collectively known as régimes spéciaux de retraite. These professions include employees of the SNCF (national railways), the RATP (Parisian transport), the electrical and gas companies (EDF and GDF) which used to be government-owned; as well as some employees whose functions are directly related to the State such as the military, French National Police, sailors, Civil law notaries' assistants, employees of the Opéra de Paris, etc. The main differences between the special retirement plan and the usual private sector retirement plans are the retirement age and the number of years a worker must contribute to the fund before being allowed a full pension. In the private sector the minimum retirement age is 62 (since 2010, previously was 60) and the minimum number of quarters of contribution to the retirement fund in order to receive a full pension is between 166 and 172 quarters depending on date of birth.[1] Employees who are enrolled in the special retirement plan can retire earlier.
According to the Conseil d'Orientation des Retraites, a governmental organism created to study the French retirement funds, the statistics for special retirement plans must be considered with caution for the following reasons:
There are 15 special retirement plans. Most suffer from an imbalance in regards to the number of workers relative to the number of pensioners, in total there are 500,000 workers contributing to the funds and 1,100,000 pensioners. In comparison, in the private sector there are 18 million workers versus 15 million pensioners.
Because of this discrepancy the special retirement plan is partly financed by the State, or by the employees of the government-owned companies that are on the standard retirement plan.
There have been several plans by conservative governments to abolish the special deal and replace it with the standard retirement plan for government-owned companies and civil servants. These efforts have been highly controversial and have caused large strikes such as those of 1995 (1995 strikes in France) and November, 2007 (November 2007 strikes in France).
Before the welfare state came into being, some companies decided to give their employees a pension in order to attract workers to strenuous or dangerous jobs. Starting from 1679 sailors were allowed a pension if an injury stopped them from working and in 1709 all fishing and merchant sailors were granted a retirement pension. During the 19th century, various other professions were granted pensions, including employees of the Banque de France, employees of the Comédie-Française, civil servants, national rail employees, and miners. Some professions were also given health insurance funds.
In 1930 and 1945 general public welfare funds were introduced that included retirement plans. The employees of the companies who had previously been granted pension schemes decided to keep them instead of participating in the new plans. The ordonnance (law created by the executive organ of State) of October 4, 1945, which is now incorporated into the set of laws regulating social securities measures (code de la Sécurité Sociale), officially permitted these older pension plans to subsist and they became known as the régimes spéciaux (special retirement plans).[3]
average retirement age: 54.8;
In 2007:[5]
| Retirement Plan | Standard private sector plan | Standard public sector plan | Special SNCF plan | Special RATP plan | Special EDF and GDF plans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary basis used for calculation of the pension | 25 years in 2008 | 6 months | final earnings (validated over 6 months) | 6 months | final earnings |
| Contribution length | 39.5 years in 2007, 40 years in 2008, 41 years in 2012 | 39.5 years in 2007, 40 years in 2008, 41 years in 2012 | 37.5 years 40 years in 2012 (if the reform project takes effect) | 37.5 years 40 years in 2012 (if the reform project takes effect) | 37.5 years 40 years in 2012 (if the reform project takes effect) |
| Employee contribution percentage | between 10 and 11% | 7.85% | 7.85% | 7.85% | 12% |
| theoretical retirement age | 60 | 60 | 50 to 55 | 50 to 60 | 50 to 60 |
| actual age | 61 | 57 | 50 to 55 | 55 | 55 |
| decrease per missing contribution year | 10% and then 5% in 2013 | 0.6% and then 5% in 2013 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| re-valuation method | inflation | inflation | company salary | company salary | company salary |
Because of the diminishing number of workers in many of the sectors using special retirement plans, most noticeably in mining and railway employment, the contributions of these workers alone would not be sufficient to cover all of the pension commitments. The State, local government agencies, and the standard retirement fund provide the funds needed to balance the expenditures.
The special retirement plan funds are largely in deficit. In 2006 €14.7 billion were paid out in pensions under the special retirement plan, whereas the contributions by workers were only €6.2 billion. As such it has become necessary for the losses to be offset by four different mechanisms:
Source:[6]
| Worker category/company | Worker contributions as a percentage of the total revenue of the special retirement fund*: | Pension disbursements as a percentage of the total social benefits budget**: |
|---|---|---|
| Miners | 4.5% | 89.9% |
| EDF and GDF | 35.8% | 52.5% |
| RATP | 28.1% | 92.7% |
| SNCF | 33.40% | 96.30% |
| Sailors | 13.4% | 95.0% |
| Opéra de Paris | 46.90% | 97.17% |
| Military | 45.1% | 87.7% |
| Elected members of the National Assembly and of the Senate | Unknown | Unknown |
| Local government | 97.5% | 78.1% |
| Civil law notaries' assistants | 75.2% | 89% |
| National Police | Unknown | Unknown |
| Religious ministers | 15.8% | 90% |
| Workers in state-owned industrial establishments | 29.5% | 99.2% |
The decree 54-24 establishes that SNCF personnel may request the right to retire if they satisfy both the conditions of being over 55 years old (50 for drivers who have been working for at least 15 years) and having paid 25 annuities. This same decree also authorises the SNCF to forcefully retire its personnel who meet the same conditions. The pension is equal to 2% of salary per year of work, with a maximum of 75% of total salary.
The SNCF retirement fund created by decree 2007-730 is financed mainly by:
In 1995 Alain Juppé's government attempted to align the special retirement plan with the standard one but abandoned the reform following large strikes.
See main article: 1995 strikes in France.
In 2007 François Fillon's government was planning a reform of the special retirement plan to make it identical to that of the civil servants. This plan has also provoked widespread strikes in France and was eventually abandoned.
See main article: November 2007 strikes in France.