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Salaries, working conditions, Olympics: French civil servants angry
Eight unions are calling on the 5.7 million public sector agents to strike on Tuesday March 19, 2024. They are demanding salary increases and career improvements.
Teachers also announce actions.
A strike movement which could be renewed during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Construction site near the Eiffel Tower in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, March 14, 2024. REUTERS - Benoit Tessier
By: Myriam Berber
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Eight French unions are calling on the 5.7 million public sector employees to strike on Tuesday March 19, 2024. They are demanding salary increases and career improvements.
Teachers also announce actions.
A strike movement which could be renewed during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The question of salaries will be at the heart of the mobilization.
A study, published last October by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), shows a drop in the salaries of civil servants compared to those in the private sector.
Between 2011 and 2021, the average net salary increased by 4.9% in the private sector, more than twice as fast as the 2.1% observed in the public sector.
The government recalls that nearly 14 billion euros have been spent on civil servants since 2022. In this context, the Minister of the Civil Service Stanislas Guérini rules out any further increase for this year.
The inter-union (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FA, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNSA) is opposed to a blank year in 2024, because “
salary increases +3.5% in 2022 and +1.5% in 2023, absolutely do not cover inflation of around 5%
”.
Read alsoFrance: anger of the police six months before the Olympic Games
Financial and human resources
For their part, the teaching unions are demanding "
an immediate increase of 10% in the index point
" and "
more positions
", while the government revealed, last February, that it would have to save an additional ten billion euros in the budget.
Teachers who also denounce “
the establishment of groups in teaching
”, a measure announced by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal when he was Minister of Education and which appeared in the Official Journal this Sunday March 17, 2024. The The text provides in particular for the establishment of groups in mathematics and French in middle school.
For the unions, this is a measure which will establish “
social sorting of students
” and require “
additional staff and funding
”.
Read also Olympic Games: “The whole country wants there to be no strikes”, insists Guerini
Strike during the Olympics
Very angry, the civil servants threaten to continue the strike in the coming months.
They denounce the tight working conditions during the Olympic Games this summer and demand aid for the care of children who will be on school holidays.
The Minister of the Civil Service, Stanislas Guérini, promised bonuses of 500 to 1,500 euros for all agents who will be in the field during this period and service employment vouchers (CESU) for childcare.
Announcements which, for the moment, have not convinced the unions.
Read also Five months before the 2024 Olympics, the threat of strikes persists
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