Joint meetings with non-European countries

04.06.2021

During the November plenary session, particularly following the exchanges with the elected representatives of Mexico and Japan, Hedi ben Sedrine, the Secretary of the EWC, mentioned the interest of meeting the representatives of the non-European perimeter twice a year, as for the other countries.

With this in mind, a first meeting was held with the Swiss staff representatives (see article "link"), then with the Mexican staff representatives on 2 June 2021, and the Japanese staff representatives on 4 June 2021.

Erika Fernandez Meija gave an update on the difficult economic and social situation in Mexico in the context of the pandemic, with a GDP that has fallen by -8.2% in 2020, an unemployment rate and a rate of insecurity increasing, and detailed the measures taken by AXA to protect employees, which were greatly appreciated. She continued with an overview of recent social advances in the country before ending with the negotiations underway for the implementation of Smart Working, taking into account Mexican legislation and the precise definition of telework in her country.

The joint meetings ended with Japan. Hiroaki Iriguchi detailed the situation at AXA Life, with the measures relating to the pandemic. The Japanese representatives underlined the difficulties linked to the feeling of isolation of employees during the period of widespread remote working and explained the support put in place by AXA Life to remedy this. Despite the health situation, the business has improved slightly compared to 2020 with, in particular, the acceleration of remote selling, which is a change for the employees.

Finally, a voluntary early retirement plan was proposed to senior employees close to retirement.

The detailed minutes of these meetings are available below: