Civil service: unions want the opening of salary negotiations and the abandonment of the reform project

Civil service unions on Tuesday asked Minister Guillaume Kasbarian for a quick meeting on salaries, and the abandonment of the civil service reform bill launched by his predecessor.

While the government announced on Sunday that it wanted to save 1.2 billion euros by aligning public sick leave compensation practices with those of the private sector, “stigmatizing measures which will impact the most vulnerable agents”, according to the eight representative unions signatories, they ask in a letter to Guillaume Kasbarian to include a meeting “in (his) presence” on salaries “as quickly as possible” on the agenda.

They particularly want the maintenance of Gipa, compensation paid to civil servants whose remuneration has increased less quickly than inflation, and which the government is considering abolishing.

« Abandon total »

They also want “rapid clarification” of government intentions “on the bill relating to efficiency of the civil service”, launched by Guillaume Kasbarian’s predecessor, Stanislas Guerini, and frozen by the dissolution.

“On the method, the unanimous request of our organizations is clear: we want the total abandonment of this project” they write.

The text planned to increase merit-based pay, facilitate layoffs or eliminate the historic system of categories (A, B and C) of the civil service.

“The reformist ambition is intact,” Guillaume Kasbarian declared last week. Tuesday on RTL, he said he did not want to “throw in the trash” the idea of ​​removing the categories, and wanted to “continue to put into consultation” remuneration based on merit and dismissal “in the event of insufficiency”.

The unions are also “awaiting answers” ​​on the social protection rights of agents, and “intend that the signed agreements will be applied”.

“You had shown a desire for social dialogue,” the organizations reminded their minister. But “since then, a social agenda has been imposed without any consultation and, at the same time, a certain number of decisions with serious consequences (…) already seem to have been made without any discussion having taken place”.

According to them, “it is necessary that you can receive (us) quickly in order to relaunch a real social dialogue”.