Around twenty employees and union representatives met on Tuesday, November 19 in front of the CPAM premises in Digne-les-Bains. They notably demanded an increase in their salaries.
They decided to sound the alarm. In Digne-les-Bains, as everywhere in France, staff of social security organizations went on strike this Tuesday, November 19.
20 euros increase
For the occasion, around twenty demonstrators met in front of the Primary Health Insurance Fund (CPAM) of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in order to chant their discontent.
Among their demands, the most popular among them concerns the salary issue. All are demanding a significant increase in their income.
“Our index point has been frozen for ten years. We have only been increased by a few cents since last year. Today, we are also offered a classification which does not meet our expectations and in which 70% of employees will be harmed. We are being offered a 20 euro increase, we are really being made fun of,” declares Jenny Boucher, secretary of the CGT union of social organizations in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
“We are asking for a point value of ten euros and indexation to inflation, knowing that it has jumped 22% in around fifteen years. But our salaries have not followed,” specifies the union representative .
“We are going to switch to an American system”
During this demonstration organized in front of the CPAM, the strikers also denounced the endangerment of social security. The financing bill (PLFSS), according to them, organizes the “breakage from within” of our health system.
“It puts in place 'defundings', increases in flat-rate contributions and deductibles. We have less and less things reimbursed and we rely more and more on mutual insurance companies. (…) We have beaten to have social security, it would be good for it to continue like this. It is not up to us to comply with government laws. If no one moves, we will switch to an American system”, explains on the microphone of BFM DICI. Elsa Rivera, the CGT union delegate to the CPAM in Digne-les-Bains.
The demonstrators are thus demanding 100% social security as well as the principle of comprehensive social security, total and universal coverage of social needs, financed by social contributions alone.
“The idea would be to return to universal social security which really meets needs with zero out-of-pocket costs. Better coverage of all care, better reimbursements…” claims Jenny Boucher, the secretary of the CGT union of social organizations 4.
According to her, we must “go back to basics, when social security was created in 1945”. An idea that is ambitious to say the least, for which the local CGT intends to continue to mobilize over the coming weeks.
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