Paris (AFP)

Like teachers, nurses' aides have much to lose from the pension reform, which will put an end to early departures at 57 years of age at the public hospital, without compensation in most cases, despite the "special attention" that the government says they are wearing.

The mobilization of hospital workers organized Tuesday after nine months of crisis initially had nothing to do with the pension reform.

But this subject worries many caregivers, aware that they will "have to work longer" at the time when they denounce the "deterioration of their working conditions" and demand wage increases, according to the general secretary of the CGT Health, Mireille Stivala.

With the future "universal system" of pension by points, supposed to replace the 42 existing schemes, everyone will be in the same boat, or almost.

Civil servants will thus see their pensions calculated over their entire career and more over the last six months, while their "arrangements" for early retirement before age 62 "will be gradually abolished", except for dangerous regal professions, as a police officer.

Caregivers born after 1980 and some nurses will lose their right to leave at age 57.

"Not only is it totally unfair but it makes no sense," insists Ms. Stivala, a trained nurse's aide, according to whom "40%" of her colleagues "do not go to the end of their careers because of health problems "linked to the" arduousness "of their work.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe assures that two thirds of caregivers will not be affected by the future system, without specifying whether this also applies to the discount provided in the event of departure before the retirement age, which must gradually reach 64 years old from 2022 to 2027.

In all cases, "we will not be able to continue under these conditions until 62 (legal age) or 64 years," said the president of the National Nursing Coordination, Céline Laville, a 40-year-old former nursing assistant whose " dos revit "since she became a nurse.

Same observation for Corinne, 53 years old, nursing assistant (SUD) at night in the emergency room in Paris, who "cannot be seen stretchering at 64 years".

- "A decline" -

"Certainly we do not exercise sovereign missions but we abandon our families far too much" adds Ms. Laville in reference to "incessant reminders on rest times" due to the lack of staff.

Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn assures her that the government is paying "special attention" to the "horribly difficult" profession of nursing assistant.

By extending to civil servants the "arduousness account", reserved for private sector employees, and by taking better account of night work, 20 to 30% of nurses and nursing assistants will be able to leave before age 62, and, at best, to 60 years, ensures the executive. But more at 57.

"This is a step backwards," says Thierry Amouroux, of the SNPI nursing union, especially since many will be "excluded from this gas factory", which since 2017 no longer includes the carrying of heavy loads or exposure to dangerous chemicals.

Another measure put forward by Matignon, the launch at the beginning of 2020 of a "consultation on the development of the second parts of career" at the hospital to establish a "new device allowing" a part-time without loss of income for the assistants - caregivers at the end of the journey.

"It's pretty on paper," says Ms. Laville, provided that enough "continuing education" to guarantee retraining, for example in the administrative, she warns, "dubious".

The situation is different for nurses: a 2011 reform forced the professionals then in activity to choose between maintaining their right to leave at 57 (category B) and a salary increase (category A) against departures at 62, have become the norm for new hires since.

If the nurses of category A working at night will be able to possibly claim departures at 60 years, those of category B, on the other hand, "will eat dry", even if it is about a body in the process of extinction, according to Mr. Laville. Younger people will a priori be affected by longer working hours even though they have given up on increases. For them, "the contract is broken", indignant Mireille Stivala.

© 2019 AFP