The nine unions of the civil service call to strike Thursday 9th May, 2019 to denounce the draft reform of the status of staff soon examined in the National Assembly.
A unitary mobilization that could be “only a step”: the staff of the Civil service and public workers are called to strike and demonstrate everywhere in France Thursday 9th May, 2019 against the bill supposed to “modernize” their status, the menu of the National Assembly from May 13th.
This is the fourth national day of action in the public service since the beginning of the five years of Emmanuel Macron, after those of October 10th, 2017 and March 2nd2 and May 22nd, 2018.
But “this is the first time that the government is faced with all the unions that reject a bill,” says Mireille Stivala (CGT), referring to a “new situation.”
The nine trade unions of the civil service (CGT, CFDT, FO, FSU, Solidarity, Unsa, FA-FP, CFE-CGC, CFTC) denounce a reform with “the very serious scope”, as much for the staff as for the future of public services.
On the contrary, the government has presented its text, which facilitates the use of contract workers, as a necessity to make the administration “more attractive and more responsive” to the “new expectations” of the French.
Nearly 150 events
The unions have already warned that the day of Thursday would be “only a step” of a mobilization “in the long term” to “say no” to this bill presented to the Council of Ministers on March 27th and ask the government to “finally open negotiations on a new basis”.
Nearly 150 events are planned throughout France, according to the unions. In Paris, the procession will start at 2pm from the Denfert-Rochereau square, to the Invalides.
“Calls for demonstrations have been launched in many sectors, well beyond the civil sevice and public service”, which brings together some 5.5 million staff in its three sides (state, hospital, territorial), told the AFP Baptiste Talbot, secretary general of the CGT federation of public services.
They concern the chemistry and the trade, but also the railroaders as well as the retirees, who will demonstrate alongside the teachers, the caregivers, the customs officers, the agents of the public finances or the territorial officials, to defend their missions and public services of quality.
In schools and hospitals
Among the teachers, the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer said to count on a strike of “some importance”, anticipating a rate of strikers “of about 15%” in the primary, “less” in the secondary.
A “strong mobilization is expected in hospitals,” told AFP Patrick Bourdillon of the CGT health / social action , which has filed a notice of national strike reconductible “specific to emergencies and Samu”.
For several weeks, strike movements have been pressing for emergencies, in particular those of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) but also of Nantes, Strasbourg and Lyon, where carers are demanding more resources to deal with the problem. congestion of their services. “We reached a point of no return,” added Patrick Bourdillon, denouncing services “exploding”.
“Passage in strength”
On the bill, the unions criticize “a passage in force” of the government, which they accuse of wanting a civil service aligned with the rules of the private sector, to the detriment of the status of civil servant and the independence of the staff
Bernadette Groison (FSU) speaks of “profound disagreement with the orientation chosen by the government on the future of the public service” and Gaëlle Martinez (Solidaires) of a text “which is unanimously against him”.
At the CFDT, Mylène Jacquot cites “the widening of the recourse to the contract” as “true disagreement” while in FO, Christian Grolier denounces the deafness of a “government anti-civil servants” and that Luc Farré (Unsa) sees in the text a “toolbox” for “eventually privatizing the civil service”.
The bill will be on the agenda of the National Assembly starting next Monday at first reading. The government wants to pass it before the summer for entry into force on January 1st, 2020.
The bill is intended to eliminate 120,000 government positions by 2022.
Public Accounts Minister Gérald Darmanin described the goal as “achievable” on April 26, when Emmanuel Macron said the day before he was ready to “abandon it”, asking the government “for its analysis by the time summer “.
