Toulouse. Unions boycott greetings to staff from the President of the Departmental Council

On the occasion of the staff greeting ceremony of the president of the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne this Tuesday, January 14, 2025, the inter-union CGT, SUD, FO and CFDT called on all agents to boycott the ceremony. Gathered in front of the Canal du Midi metro station, they fired again the alarm bell about their situation.

Keep the 500 positions that will be eliminated

“We have not changed course, our demands remain the same. We want to keep the 500 positions that will be eliminated par Sebastien Vincini, and maintain our current work organization,” chant the union representatives.

Remember that in November 2024, due to the tightening imposed by the State on local authorities, the Department announced that it had “no other choice but to reduce its expenditure to achieve a total effort of 160 million euros during the vote on the initial 2025 budget. His solution: proceed with the elimination of 500 positions.

Essential to “vote a sincere and balanced budget”

« The president of the Departmental Council announced that all public policies would be maintained, but that efforts had to be made”, for its part reminded the community to Toulouse News. And this “in order to be able to vote for a sincere and balanced budget in March next year and be able to continue to carry out its essential solidarity missions.

“How are we going to guarantee public service? »

The fact remains that two months later, the unions are still having difficulty swallowing this decision to cut jobs: “Tomorrow, how are we going to guarantee public service? 500 agent departures, that means extra work for those who remain”, worries Magali Ginerdeputy general secretary of the FO CD 31 union.

“Maintaining public service is done with agents: staff in colleges who feed students, agents who build roads…” adds Hugues Bernard member of the CFDT of the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council.

A supervised ceremony

Since Sébastien Vincini's announcements, the tensions are strong between the two camps. After the invasion of the unions in the middle of a plenary session last December, it was in fear of other acts of this type that a special safety devicewas set up by the Department Council on the occasion of greetings to staff.

« Wishes are barricaded the names of agents who can attend are on lists. They even went so far as to force directors to attend,” adds the CFDT delegate.

An engaged showdown

For weeks, an unprecedented social movement has shaken the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne, with a standoff which sees the unions and the majority in control of the community clash, and relations which become sour.

“Two trade union organizations, FO and SUD were threatened and suspected of defamation because they dared to say that our RTT days are being stolen from us and that they did not want to attend the greetings,” says the secretary of the FO union. “ Three people even received disciplinary sanctions following the invasion of the assembly hall.”

“The administration blocked all speech”

Still according to the unions, on the side of the Departmental Council, “the administration blocked all speech since January 10. We no longer have the right to send emails, no exchanges take place, it's intimidation. All this, without anyone warning us. We simply received a letter,” they argue. “They want appeasement, but without social dialogue. Their policy is: I fire people, I reduce social rights and if there are responses, we sanction the activists,” add the unions.

What solutions?

Currently, “our only window out of this crisis isle vote du budget which will be done in March. At that time,” the unions conclude, “we could try to find solutions so that these positions are not eliminated. We will demandlighting of accountsof the Department and the financial window to save these positions.”

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