Civil service: unions welcome a first victory over the waiting period
Unions and collectives rejoiced Thursday at the government’s abandonment of a criticized measure to extend the waiting period from one to three days for sick public employees. “Every time we have progress, we will take it”greeted Luc Farré, secretary general of the UNSA-public service. A “very good news for agents”added Mylène Jacquot, general secretary of the CFDT-public service.
The extension of the waiting period, with the reduction of compensation for days of sick leave (from 100% to 90%) and the suspension of the individual guarantee for purchasing power (GIPA), were part of the proposals savings on the public service brought by the former minister, Guillaume Kasbarian.
“In the public sector, supplementary health and welfare insurance cannot cover loss of wages linked to waiting days, whether there are one, two, or three, whereas in the private sector, it is part of the basket of negotiation in complementary health and welfare »underlines Mylène Jacquot.
However, “if the minister keeps the 10% reduction in compensation for days off work, that’s where it hits the agents’ wallets the hardest”warns Christian Grolier, secretary general of FO-finance public.
According to a report from the general inspectorates of finance (IGF) and social affairs (IGAS), the reduction in compensation from 100% to 90% of the remuneration of agents on sick leave would make it possible to achieve 900 million euros – three times more than the 289 million euros that the introduction of a three-day waiting period would have saved.
For Christian Grolier, maintaining this measure would be a “casualty of war”. Renouncing the extension of the waiting period while maintaining the 10% reduction in compensation for sick leave would be akin to “a fool’s bargain”estimates Johan Theuret, from the collective of agents “Sense of public service”.
