Equality agreement with aerospace company

FRANCE: Three IMF-affiliated trade unions in France have signed a ground-breaking agreement on equality with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). Fédération Générale des Mines et de la Métallurgie (CFDT), Fédération des Travailleurs de la Métallurgie (CGT) and Fédération Confèdèrèe “Force Ouvrière” de la Métallurgie (FO) were all signatories. The agreement commits EADS to improving women’s access to the different jobs within the company and assuring that women and men progress equally in their careers. In line with these aims, the agreement seeks to facilitate the balance between work and family and includes specific measures to achieve this. These include:

• Meeting necessary child care costs when professional training takes place outside of normal working hours,
• Reduced hours of work during pregnancy,
• Four years parental leave which counts for length of service,
• Days off to care for sick children, and
• Access to part-time work and other changes to work or to working hours that allow workers to reconcile family and working life.

The company undertakes to perform detailed statistical analyses to assist it to ensure professional equality between men and women. It will ensure that the budgets for salary increases for men and women are at least proportional to the proportion of women in each professional category and that individual promotions reflect overall proportions of men and women. The agreement commits EADS to actively promoting a mix of men and women in occupations and a diversification of jobs performed by women in the company. The company will promote jobs in aerospace among women by developing a relationship with around fifty education institutions and participating in forums to promote careers for women. The aim is to recruit more women and facilitate access by women to male-dominated professional categories. A target has been set of 20% female recruitment across all professional categories. For their part, the unions undertake to improve the representation of women on candidate lists for elections to achieve the same proportion of women as are represented as employees.Nov 08, 2004 – Anita Gardner