Angry Paris City Agents

Thursday, May 20, the inter-union of agents of the city of Paris demonstrated against the reform of the civil service voted in 2019. The procession left the Town Hall of the XIth to go to the Town Hall. Almost 1,500 people attended.

The goal of this mobilization was to maintain the days off and the fight against the increase in working time desired by Anne Hidalgo. For this, the agents call for a week of general strike in schools and municipal establishments. They intend by this action, to defend the “specific Parisian statute” by calling for “regressions which do not appear in the law”.

The law provides for the reduction of the annual working time of agents from 1,552 to 1,607 hours, in order to respect the 35 hours. This amounts, for the 55,000 agents, to losing eight days of leave per year.

Strikes have broken out to enforce trade union rights and the RTT agreements. It is also a fight against insecurity and forced transfers to the private sector. A standoff against the “inevitably savage management”.

Movement

The mobilization of city officials continues after the demonstrations of February 4, March 9 and April 13.

It all started with the announcement of the Human Resources Department of the City of Paris concerning “the creation of a subjection reducing by 3 days the annual working time of all agents in terms of ‘intensity and the work environment inducing a specific hardship in the capital city “.

The agents are calling for the elimination of recovery days, the counting of the time to day for executives, and the questioning of work cycles.

“Not 1 minute more” was the slogan chosen for this event. It is a response to the announcement of the Parisian municipality concerning the reduction of the days of leave of its agents. The strike notice from 0 to 24 hours covered all staff actions.

Failed negotiations

The town hall and the inter-union are not on the same wavelength. The latter ask for the postponement of the application of the law, scheduled for January 22, 2022. The negotiations ending in June, the mayor hopes “to find means so that the agents do not lose in the change”.

The Mayor of Paris sent a letter to the Minister for the Transformation of public functions, Amélie Montchalin. She asked for additional time to implement the reform.

The minister’s response indicated that she had asked the regional prefect to study this request. She said, however, that the date of January 1 had to be respected. She added:

“Entered by Anne Hidalgo on the passage to 35h for the agents of the City of Paris, I invite the mayor to take up her responsibilities. Public officials cannot be used for political ends. Social dialogue deserves better”.
Pickets

The movement began on May 19. The Catacombs agents were on strike, the place had to close for the first day of deconfinement.

In front of the EPHAD and CCAS (Social Action Centers) or public establishments (Parc Buttes Chaumont), we could see pickets. The signs read: “Humans first, yes to the quality of care”. “No to the theft of leave, Yes to working time”. “RTT, it’s to breathe” ….

Other cities followed suit including Nantes (May 11), Rennes (May 15), St Etienne (May 4), St Sébastien-sur-Loire (May 18).

In Paris, a “Grand communard concert”, making the voice of the “communal” heard! ended the demonstration in front of the Town Hall.

The CGT is launching a new appeal in front of the town hall of the 13th arrondissement on May 27 at 9:30 am.

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