An indefinite strike begins among municipal police officers

Municipal police officers are mobilizing to protest against the conditions of compensation for sick leave for public sector agents.

“It’s hard to see ourselves intervening with sick agents,” declared Stéphane Poupeau, president of the national public security union (SNSP) on Friday November 15 on France Culture, while an indefinite strike notice among municipal police officers begins on Friday. The strike notice was filed on October 30, to contest the conditions of compensation for sick leave for civil servants, with an increase to three days of waiting time, compared to one currently.

“It’s a loss of around 200 euros in salary”figure Stéphane Poupeau. But what bothers the union delegate most of all is pretending through this reform that we can be a sick police officer in the field. “We have jobs where we are often first responders, we manage difficult interventions”he recalls. “Municipal police officers must be at their maximum capacity and it is difficult to see ourselves intervening with sick officers who come to the service because they cannot afford to lose 200 euros.”

Furthermore, the SNSP also criticizes the statements of Guillaume Kasbarian, Minister of the Civil Service at the origin of the sick leave reform. “By mentioning that you want to 'save money and fight against absenteeism', you imply that agents obtain sick leave of convenience, even though it is issued by doctors!” criticized Stéphane Poupeau, author of the indefinite strike notice which begins Friday. “Agents may exercise this right to strike collectively or individually,” explains the document.

Municipal police officers also joined the civil servants' strike movement on December 5 in all major cities in France.