Two additional days of waiting, less 10% compensation in the event of sick leave, freezing of the index point… The recent announcements from the Minister of the Civil Service, Guillaume Kasbarian, had the effect of a cold shower on civil servants. They were detailed as part of the finance bill at the end of October 2024.
“The deficiency was the spark in the teachers’ room”
“I know that the plan I reveal will be debated”recognized the minister in an interview with Figaro. He was right, particularly in Indre-et-Loire, a department which had 47,639 civil servants in 2021, according to the most recent data published by INSEE.
These announcements arouse “anger” et “incomprehension” among teachers. The change in the waiting period from one to three days is seen as “a direct attack” against this profession which is highly exposed to contagious diseases.
“These announcements are an insult. I remind you that most often, teachers fall ill at work. And that until six or seven years ago, we had no waiting days”underlines Paul Agard, departmental secretary of Snuipp-FSU 37, a union which represents school teachers.
“Nameless brutality”
Personally, he feels “in the viewfinder” of a government “been working to break a profession for seven years”. He denounces “nameless brutality” of this alignment of public practices with those of the private sector. With the exception that many private companies cover their employees' waiting days.
“The deficiency was the spark in the teachers’ room”confirms Murielle Navaro, Force Ouvrière union representative and secondary school teacher, in Amboise. This time his colleagues don't want to “of yet another day of action”but dream of a long-term strike.
According to her, these measures of “fight against absenteeism” contribute to a certain stigmatization suffered by civil servants. “When we are sick, we will be penalized financially, in addition to being made to feel guilty. It’s the triple punishment”says Murielle Navaro, who only sees it as a pretext to fight against sick leave. “In the public, in the private, all employers are just waiting for that! »
On the side of territorial agents, the question of attractiveness arises in the face of civil servant status “not as protective as before”. “This alignment with the private sector will be to the detriment of the user”estimates Gérald Pigeonneau, general secretary of the CGT of the departmental council.
A logic of “destruction”
The process has been at work for a long time, in the eyes of his deputy, Nicolas Coutant. “We are already faced with this logic of profitability, of productivity. Internally, we no longer speak of department head but of manager, no longer of user, but of customer. All this using public funds…” With the same voice, local residents and teachers express their fear of “suffer the same fate as the hospital”.
A sector visibly out of breath. “The government is in a logic of destruction. He wants to align the protection of civil servants with all the worst that is done in the private sector”analyzes Charlène Gomes Ribeiro, South Social Health Advisor and nursing assistant at Trousseau University Hospital. “At the hospital, we experience constant understaffing and harmful working conditions. And now they are going to force us to come to work sick to care for the sick. »
