STRIKES and demonstrations took place across France on Thursday, with the CGT union federation declaring: ‘November 10 for wages and retirement at age 60.’
‘For months, workers in all professional sectors have been mobilising to obtain general wage increases.
‘For months, in the face of galloping inflation, workers in all professional sectors have been mobilising to obtain general wage increases.
‘The government only responds to social emergencies and the rise of inequalities with ineffective measures such as the law on purchasing power. It is even continuing its plans for social regression in terms of the right to unemployment and postponing the retirement age.
‘At the same time, companies are receiving more and more public aid – the amount is estimated at more than 157 billion euros this year. Large companies, such as TotalEnergies, pay ever more dividends to their shareholders.
‘Despite union repression, workers engaged in social movements remain determined.
‘Only the mobilisations by the strike in the companies or the services oblige the latter to open negotiations.
‘Many sectors also obtain great wage advances thanks to these balances of power.
‘Raising wages is essential to obtain good pensions at 60.
‘The general increase in wages means more contributions for Social Security. It is therefore additional means to treat, educate children, be protected in the event of accidents at work and occupational diseases, disability. It’s also better living and growing old in retirement.
‘Faced with the unfair pension reform project rejected by the vast majority of the population, the CGT is making alternative proposals that can be financed with another distribution of wealth.
‘Defend good pensions at 60 and earlier for all difficult jobs.
‘Obtain salary increases, and the automatic indexation of all levels of remuneration to the cost of living.
‘It’s urgent and it’s possible right now!’
The CGT said on Wednesday: ‘At RATP, (state-owned transport company which runs the Paris Metro, tram and bus service) working conditions are deteriorating.
‘The shortage of personnel at the RATP is growing. Working conditions are becoming more and more deleterious. After the bus drivers, it is the turn of the metro drivers to be understaffed. A groundswell which, by repercussion, will soon touch the RER (regional express transport network).
‘Despite a regular recruitment campaign, the RATP is struggling to attract people.
‘No wonder: the progressive abandonment of the status has a negative effect on the attractiveness of the Régie, where 75% of the staff work with atypical hours (early in the morning, late in the evening). Staggered hours, additional travel allowance insufficient to cover all travel costs, gradual abandonment of compensation … the positions are less and less attractive.
‘In maintenance, casualisation is the order of the day. The RATP prevents itself from capitalising on the know-how of workers with the increasingly common use of fixed-term contracts and temporary work.
‘The now systematic recourse to night work in order to increase productivity also degrades working conditions: if the remuneration is higher, all the bonuses relating thereto, in particular those making it possible to exercise one’s retirement rights earlier are more taken into account.
‘Bus drivers are faced with a continuous deterioration in traffic conditions (densification of the population, new forms of mobility, congested gates of Paris) making driving more and more stressful. Without compensation.
‘The working time of 14,000 agents has been increased by 59 minutes per day to create a territorialised social framework for Paris and Petite Couronne.
‘This measure replaces the payment of this overtime, which existed until then, with a normal rate, and thus creates a reduction in income. The generalisation of the service in two shifts, on weekdays and on Saturdays, increases the working hours which can reach 13 hours per day.
‘The abolition, without the agreement of the social partners, of 6 days of rest outlines the future of the workers of the Régie.
‘In a company where personnel costs account for 70%, the only way for management to achieve a higher margin (imposed by the privatisation of the surface network) is to do more with less personnel: the elimination of 2,000 positions is expected.’
For a real public transport service, ‘we must increase the statutory salaries, remove the bonuses for the act which must be included in the statutory salary, and thus bring the salary scales up to level’, claims Bertrand Hammache Secretary General CGT RATP.
‘And the development of the Ile-de-France network must be accompanied by an improvement in working conditions.
‘For these reasons and to demand salary increases, RATP agents will massively take part in the strike on Thursday 10 November.’
Women are the poor
relations in the
public service
In terms of equality between women and men, the civil service appears as a model, the salary scales and the index point being, in the collective imagination, the guardians of this so-called equality. The reality is quite different. Here as elsewhere, the differences exist, they are numerous and always to the disadvantage of women.
In the 3 public functions, women are in the majority (63%), and concentrated in so-called female professions:
- 95% in the social and medico-social sector,
- 90% in the nursing and administrative sectors,
- 21% in the security and national police sectors!
These trades are poorly paid, undervalued, and their qualifications are not recognised. Of the 10% lowest paid civil servants, 71% are women.
If the figures of the different studies vary, all underline a flagrant inequality, always to the benefit of men: the CGT measures the pay gap between the holders of the three public functions at 19%.
Recent figures from INSEE point to a gap of 28% for the public and private sectors combined.
To reduce the gaps between women and men, it is necessary to: re-evaluate female-dominated professions; eliminate precariousness through tenure plans – women are very often contractual; end the imposed part-time; develop career paths that allow for progress, thanks to professional training and taking into account seniority and experience.
Finally, we must never forget that equality must be present in all areas of negotiation. The individualisation of remuneration, the increase in contracts will always be unfavourable to women.
Trade union federation Force Ouvriere reports: ‘On November 7, the employees of this private law institution (Bon Sauveur Foundation) managing structures welcoming people suffering from mental or psychiatric disorders launched a new strike. Their demand: higher wages.’
‘It has been three years since we signed an agreement within the framework of the mandatory annual negotiations!’ denounces Frédéric Cousin, FO union representative.
For the employees of the Bon Sauveur Foundation in the Channel, the mobilisation of November 7 for wages takes the form of a second stage. This non-profit private law institution manages structures in the health, medico-social and social sectors.
Force Ouvrière, the first union within the establishments, has filed a renewable strike notice. ‘We have had no response from management, although we have filed this notice for more than ten days,’ bitterly notes Frédéric Cousin, union representative FO Bon Sauveur.
The demand of this strike is the increase in wages. ‘It has been three years since we signed an agreement within the framework of the mandatory annual negotiations,’ denounces the activist. ‘Last year, the management did not even present us with an agreement, arguing that there were, in any case, not the necessary financial means. We demand the opening of negotiations on the subject.’
The last mobilisation within the Foundation took place last June. At the initiative of the collective of May 5, born of a petition which had gathered nearly 300 signatories, the strike notices had been filed by FO.
After two gatherings, the employees had obtained some progress, in particular the payment of a bonus of 500 euros and the financing of internal training. But still far from an increase in wages.
However, the current wage demand is all the more understandable since the State has announced that it is blocking all national negotiations until the merger of the CCNT 66 and CCNT 51 collective agreements, which would not take place before 2025.
The salary is all the more important as dissatisfaction is ‘reinforced by a permanent deterioration of working conditions in this sector due to a lack of staff’, points out the UNSFO (Union of Private Health FO) in a press release of support.
Among caregivers, in the public sector, there are 15% to 30% vacancies. The reason: poor working conditions and low pay. It’s even worse in the private sector.
