Paris (AFP)

There will be no major salary negotiations for civil servants: the new Minister of Transformation and Public Service, Amélie de Montchalin, on Friday showered the hopes that the unions had been able to have after the 8 billion euros of the "Segur of health".

During her first "salary meeting" with the civil servants' unions, the minister did not announce any thaw of the index point, preferring "tailor-made", with actions targeted on low wages and gender inequalities -men.

During a press briefing at the end of the meeting, the minister stressed that "the context of the crisis (of Covid-19) requires us to be efficient and focused and to respond as a priority to urgent questions".

This is how "Ségur" released 8.2 billion euros for the salaries of hospital staff, or a total of 1.8 million employees. Firefighters (fire bonus), police officers and researchers have also benefited from specific measures.

But the minister ruled out any general measure, observing that "the increase in the index point greatly values ​​category A and very little C" (the least well endowed).

The CGT denounces a "lack of ambition", FO expresses an "immense disappointment", and even the reformists CFDT and Unsa judge "very insufficient" the measures announced with regard to the stake.

At the beginning of the week, INSEE revealed that the average net salary in the state civil service had fallen by 1.2% in 2018.

A drop in purchasing power which can be explained by the upturn in inflation in 2018, but also by the absence of a revaluation of the index point (with the exception of 0.6% in July 2016, then in February 2017 under the Holland quinquennium). It is also due to the postponement to 2019 (freeze for one year) of the protocol on career paths, careers and remuneration (PPCR) and the reinstatement of the waiting day.

- 4 million "forgotten" agents -

The Minister announced in this regard that the protocol on the courses would be completed in 2021 (i.e. 550 million euros in expenditure, after 850 million in 2020).

She also assured to renew the individual guarantee of purchasing power (Gipa) "until the end of the five-year term" and made a commitment that the compensation for the rise in the CSG would be "dynamic and lasting".

The Minister also intends to launch in the autumn the "worksite" of the complementary health and welfare of civil servants. Unlike employees in the private sector, who benefit from a mutual fund at least half of which is paid for by the employer, this participation is optional and, when it exists, very low.

Amélie de Montchalin finally promises to carry out an "expertise" to put an end to the inequalities of treatment of very feminized and poorly endowed sectors, such as librarians, occupational physicians or educators from the Ministry of Justice.

The minister wants to make the positions of civil servants in the regions more attractive, by bringing the bonuses between Paris and the regions closer together.

"The minister did not talk about salaries, she spoke about bonuses," notes Philippe Crépel (CGT). "She appeared to discover that, unlike caregivers of the public and private hospital, the staff of nursing homes dependent on the State and the territory would not touch the increase of 183 euros net minimum" announced during the "Ségur".

False, according to Amélie de Montchalin's entourage: "The minister clearly indicated that the + Ségur de la santé + provides for the revaluation of remuneration to the tune of 183 euros net for the staff of nursing homes, including those falling under the function territorial public ".

FO evokes "more than 4 million public officials (out of 5.5, Editor's note) forgotten by the government". "Even those on the front line (police officers, prison staff, customs officers, teachers looking after the children of health workers, road workers, etc.) have nothing," the union said in a statement.

CFDT, Unsa and FSU recognize that some of their long-standing proposals have been taken up, such as the updating of the CSG compensation, or the construction of complementary health insurance. But "there is no commitment to open negotiations on general measures in the coming months", regrets Mylène Jacquot (CFDT).

"The minister confined herself to stating a few general intentions, in particular in terms of professional equality between women and men, without however quantifying them or making them concrete", deplores the FSU.

"It was a non-salary meeting", ironically Luc Farré (Unsa): "We talked about everything, except the remuneration of public officials".

© 2020 AFP