Nearly 400 tax agents on Monday invested the lobby of the Regional Directorate of Public Finance in Lille to protest against the proposed territorial reorganization presented by the government, said AFP.
18,000 to 30,000 dreaded job cuts
This event, which took place in the calm, followed the presentation in early June by the Minister of Action and Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin, an outline of the project of "deconcentration of proximity" providing a new mesh the period 2019-2022. For the inter-union, this plan - the final version of which is still to be drawn - would provide for the merger of certain tax services to businesses and individuals in local "points of contact" and would result in the elimination of 75% of treasuries .
Laurent Perin, departmental secretary CGT, fears between 18,000 and 30,000 job cuts at the national level. The mobilized agents denounced an attack on their public service missions and a lack of information concerning the timetable for the reform. Asked by the employees present, the regional director of public finances Laurent De Jekhowsky answered their questions for nearly half an hour. He said that the budget arbitration would take place during the summer and that a four-month consultation, bringing together management, tax officials and local elected officials would be organized soon, without specifying the timetable.
These answers do not seem to convince the inter-union that demands the immediate suspension of the reform, calls for new actions during the summer holidays and does not exclude a call to strike in September.