Social conflict in public service seems increasingly inevitable. Ulcerated by the government’s announcement that it wanted to address the sick leave of civil servants, the union organizations sent a joint letter to Guillaume Kasbarian on October 29, demanding a meeting. Thus, the Minister of Public Service received them on Thursday, November 7 for more than two hours. A moment of discussion that has not really calmed their anger, since several federations are already calling a strike for the coming weeks.
The atmosphere was relatively tense and the minister made no attempt to back down. He thus stated that the Government intends to maintain the modifications to the finance bill for 2025 that seek to apply three days of unpaid leave in case of absence for health reasons – compared to only one currently – and limit remuneration to 90%. of the agents. ‘salary when the work stoppage extends beyond this three-day period.
These options, which aim to align the public sector with the regulations in force in the private sector, would ultimately save 1.2 billion euros per year. According to the participants, the minister remained deaf to the arguments of the unions, assuming to make decisions “difficult” but “necessary”.
He also confirmed that there will be no increase in the index point in 2024 and that the individual purchasing power guarantee will not be paid either, a mechanism that allows agents who have lost purchasing power in the four years to receive financial compensation.
“Three days of waiting, three days of strike”
However, there was something positive for the union organizations. Guillaume Kasbarian announced that he would abandon the abolition of the categories of civil servants (A, B and C). The measure, Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise in 2022, appeared in the program of the bill approved by the previous Minister of Public Service, Stanislas Guerini. His successor said he did not want “thrive” this project, according to the meeting participants.
The minister also proposed starting consultations on three areas: the attractiveness of the public service and the retention of agents, career management and a plan to prevent and reduce absences. As things stand, it is difficult to know whether Guillaume Kasbarian intends to present a bill regardless or whether he will content himself with regulatory measures or decrees. In any case, he assured Agence France-Presse that he wishes “maintain a constant and frank dialogue with union organizations” in order to “advance constructively on essential issues for agents and the future of the public service”. But given the relationships with the officials’ representatives, the discussions promise to be complicated.
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