After several months of tension around the pension reform, the unions of public services said on Thursday that they were ready to resume dialogue with the government in the face of the “urgency” of purchasing power.
Since the last revaluation of the Smic, on May 1, “more than a million agents (out of 5.7 million) live on the minimum wage,” warn the eight representative unions of the public sector, which have rejected any exchange since mid-April official with the government on an issue other than pensions.
For this reason, “it is imperative to establish a dialogue with a view to implementing general emergency measures” to increase wages, estimates the inter-union (CGT, FO, CFDT, Unsa, FSU, Solidaires, CFE-CGC and FA-FP) in a letter open to the Minister of Public Services Stanislas Guerini.
The latter only began on Thursday to send out a series of invitations to union leaders for bilateral meetings.
Measures in June?
“In accordance with the commitments that I assumed on April 21, when I informed you of my decision to meet with you to discuss purchasing power in particular, I confirm my desire to hold a discussion meeting and work with you,” the minister indicated in these Letters consulted by AFP.
The first union of civil servants, the CGT Public Service will be received on Monday, May 22 at 8:45 am. The CFDT-FP (3rd) is scheduled for May 23 at 2:45 p.m., the Unsa-FP (4th) “in the afternoon” on the 23rd and the FSU (5th) at 5:30 p.m. day, according to information obtained by an AFP journalist. The FA-FP (8th) is invited on Friday, May 26 at 08:45.
“We are restarting (discussions, editor’s note) with the most urgent,” Stanislas Guerini told AFP, who expects to receive all the unions at the end of May and announce salary measures “during the month of June.”
The Government initially intended to discuss two blocks of issues with the unions in the first half of 2023: the improvement of the working conditions of civil servants on the one hand, and remuneration, professional career and access to public service on the other.
No general increase
But after several months of union mobilization against the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, the issue of purchasing power has returned to the forefront of concerns in recent weeks, as the price of food products around 15% in a year. .
The Government has so far ruled out a new general increase for civil servants after the 3.5% granted in the summer of 2022, preferring to direct possible salary efforts to middle-class and lower-paid civil servants.
But Unsa-FP intends to request a “revaluation of remuneration and in particular the value of the index point”, the basis for calculating the salary of the majority of the 5.7 million civil servants, its general secretary Luc Farré told AFP.
His FSU counterpart, Benoît Teste, intends to speak “mainly about purchasing power” with Stanislas Guerini, but also to call on the government to maintain its commitment to recreate a progressive retirement system in public service.
Source: BFM TV
