- In an article published on Tuesday May 12 on Mediapart, several ex-collaborators of the deputy Laetitia Avia describe a situation of suffering at work.
- Beyond the facts reported by these collaborators, the management of psychosocial risks in the National Assembly has been criticized on numerous occasions by the union officials of parliamentary collaborators.
- If they welcome major advances put in place in recent months, they believe that many projects remain to be finalized in the fight against moral or sexual harassment.
The matter could not have come at a worse time. A few hours before the final adoption of her bill against online hatred, LREM MP from Paris Laetitia Avia was targeted on Tuesday by an investigation by Mediapart . In this article, the content of which is denied as a whole by the elected representative of the majority, five ex-collaborators and collaborators denounce “humiliating remarks” towards them, “an unhealthy competition” established in his team, one even evoking a "system that crushes you". If none of these anonymous witnesses initiated legal proceedings against their ex-employer, the member announced her intention to file a defamation complaint against the investigation site.
These testimonies revive a debate that has already shaken this institution responsible for voting and defining the law: that of respect for labor law in the National Assembly and the protection of its staff. Faced with particularly wide schedules and charged with various missions sometimes deemed too vague, the thousands of "little hands" of deputies are particularly exposed to psychosocial risks. How does the National Assembly deal with this problem? What devices exist and do brakes persist in the alert system set up in the event of abuse? 20 Minutes takes stock.
A statute that exposes employees
In the absence of real status, having no category at Pôle Emploi or professional branch, it is difficult to know the extent of the suffering at work that affects parliamentary staff. However, certain indicators do shed light. A study published in October 2018 carried out by the association "Regards citizens", pointed to a turnover rate of 53% of parliamentary teams between 2017 and 2018. With large disparities and rates "abnormally high for 155 deputies, or a quarter of parliamentarians ”, who renewed their entire team from one to three times. According to a union source cited by AFP, "34% of employees left" between February 2018 and October 2019. Difficult to know, however, the share of departures attributed to burnout, a career change or a conflict between the deputy-employer and his collaborator.
Contacted by 20 Minutes, Astrid Morne, assistant general secretary of Unsa-collaborators at the Assembly, considers that moral harassment is massive within the institution: “We meet today many situations reporting moral harassment and from members of all political stripes. It is an extremely important phenomenon. A situation which can be explained - in part only - by the very special role assigned to the collaborators of French deputies.
“There is still a deep confusion between our missions, which are becoming heavier and have become more professional, and this function of accompanying the personal life of the deputy. Sometimes, such proximity sets in that some elected officials seem to forget that they are in a working relationship and that there is a hierarchical link with their collaborators, ”analyzes Simon Desmarest, representative CGT-CP at the National Assembly.
Installation of the listening unit
Accused of immobility on this subject by union representatives, the leadership of the National Assembly decides to launch a working group in 2017. It was deputy Michel Larive (La France insoumise) who chaired it, accompanied by other elected officials from different parties. “After six months of work, we presented eight proposals. Only one was finally accepted, ”regrets the elected official, who has since become president of the Association of Deputies-Employers. Accepted by the President of the Assembly, a listening and prevention unit, managed and piloted externally by a specialized company, was launched last February.
“The cell can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the process is completely anonymous and confidential. It is made up of a specialized psychologist, a doctor and a lawyer and is intended for all the staff of the Assembly. Everyone can and must seize it, ”details the office of the President of the National Assembly, contacted by 20 Minutes, specifying that this cell was not yet in place for the facts related to the Avia affair.
"Some elected officials think that by talking about the suffering at work that exists in this place, we dirty the institution"
The establishment of this cell constitutes "a major advance", recognizes Astrid Morne (Unsa), but it is insufficient according to Michel Larive. "If it’s just to get a good conscience, saying" you can talk to a shrink "is not enough. The taboos persist. When I proposed to introduce a paragraph on harassment in the status of employees, no one wanted to follow. Some elected officials think that by talking about the suffering at work that exists in this place, we are dirtying the institution. I think the opposite, it is by being transparent that we will protect the institution, ”he tackles.
Especially since the famous cell seems perfectible. In a note published in December 2019, the think tank close to the Socialist Party, the Jean Jaurès Foundation, pointed out the limits of the planned system: "The field of action seems totally disproportionate in terms of the means selected. Using three people […] for a potential audience of more than 3,000 interlocutors means taking a certain risk of not offering a satisfactory solution to a certain number of cases ”.
Insufficient training and fear of speaking
What the Avia affair points to is also the lack of clarity in the alert procedures available to Palais-Bourbon staff. Mediapart's investigation underlines that the ethics officer of the National Assembly would have been "seized at least six times on the case of the deputy". Created in 2011, this position, occupied today by Professor Agnès Roblot-Troizier, is not sufficiently "equipped" to respond to cases of harassment, says Simon Desmarest (CGT-CP): "She is mainly mobilized on the questions of financial deviance, she does not really deal with working relations between deputies and collaborators, in particular because she does not have the human means to do so. A “harassment” referent nevertheless came to strengthen the ethics officer on this point in 2013.
I'll tell you what shocks me in this story: it is that since #baupin and since #chairecollaboratrice the ethics officer of @AssembleeNat still has no power to end situations ... and yet in 2016 everything had to change https://t.co/rcMBhP4pru
- Rousseau Sandrine (@sandrousseau) May 13, 2020In addition, barriers still exist and testifying remains difficult, continues the trade unionist: "The employees are young, they are 30 years old on average. Their careers in this position are shorter and shorter, being a parliamentary collaborator is often a stepping stone to a professional career. Some fear that an open conflict with an elected official will have consequences for their future. "
For union representatives as for Michel Larive, many projects could bring a significant improvement in the working conditions of employees. “We must make training on psychosocial risks compulsory at the start of each term, for everyone. So that employees know what they can and cannot accept, so that elected officials can learn to manage their teams correctly. We also plead to be represented on the CHSCT ”, details Astrid Morne.
No disciplinary action
Today, no disciplinary sanction is envisaged by the Assembly with regard to elected officials who are guilty of harassment. A lack of "determination" pointed out in 2019 by the authors of the note from the Jean Jaurès Foundation: "The National Assembly still does not seem determined to envisage a disciplinary procedure specific to a parliamentarian whose actions would be sufficiently established. "
Several reasons, specific to the functioning of the Assembly and the status of employees, may explain this reluctance, according to Simon Desmarest (CGT-CP): “The Assembly refuses to intervene in the management of the human resources of deputies. She considers that the collaborator is the employee of the deputy, but not the employee of the National Assembly. If it intervened, that would amount to putting the finger in a gear, to have to integrate us into the CHSCT or to have to organize professional elections, for example ”.
Michel Larive had however made a proposal to this effect when presenting his report in June 2019. But it was not retained. An observation that today leaves the rebellious elected official with a bitter taste: “I felt, during our work and our hearings, extreme psychological pain. Sometimes even physical pain. It may not have been a panacea, but we had concrete proposals. There is an urgent need to act, it is about people's mental and physical health and it is serious. "
Politics
LREM MP Laetitia Avia accused by former collaborators of making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks
Society
Moral and sexual harassment: The Assembly creates a prevention unit to strengthen an "insufficient" system
- Job
- Moral harassment
- Sexual harassment
- Society
- National Assembly
- Labor law
- Mediapart