Public servants: the executive has unveiled its reform in a tense context

Officially, this is the tool that should allow the government to start - finally - the huge project of modernization of the State. The reform of the public serv

Public servants: the executive has unveiled its reform in a tense context

Officially, this is the tool that should allow the government to start - finally - the huge project of modernization of the State. The reform of the public service was presented Thursday by Olivier Dussopt, the secretary of State in charge of the topic at Bercy. A little less than a year after the presentation by the prime minister of the broad outlines of this transformation, in April 2018, which is about 5.5 million public servants in France.

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The goal is, eventually, to be able to rely on a public service more effective, efficient, digitized, responding more to the demands of the French. With the draft law "on transformation of the public service", the majority intends to develop a toolbox to carry out the restructuring of the State that he promises from the presidential campaign of 2017. It is, in particular, reduce the number of employees 120,000 by 2022 in the three public functions (including 50,000 for the State). We are far from it today: only 1600 posts have been deleted in 2018, and 4164 are expected to follow in 2019. This figure is expected to climb, promises Bercy, to over 10,000 by 2020. The need to achieve this is found in statistics from Eurostat that reveal that the public sector wage bill French is the heaviest in Europe (nearly 12.5% of GDP), equal with Sweden.

the representatives of The civil servants are opposed to a wider use of contract workers, who are already more than a million in the public service

to achieve the reduction, the draft law should help breaks the conventional, and create a support structure for the agents whose service is being restructured. Mobility should be fluidifiée between the different public functions (hospital, territorial, and State) and the initial conditions improved (doubling of severance to 30,000 euros).

Guest of the morning BFMTV-RMC this Thursday, Olivier Dussopt has detailed the government's project. He indicated, for example, that a hospital director can decide, as well as in the private sector, the evolution of the career of a public servant. With this reform of the public service, the government includes the creation of contracts to missions for officials, on the model of the project contract in the private sector. Without addressing the statute, the government also wishes "that there was more of CDI among contractors in the public service," said Olivier Dussopt. "We give freedom to employers to hire more contract workers in the public service and that they are better treated". These contractors will have the right to request a rupture conventionnelle. The secretary of State has also mentioned the creation of jobs of incumbents at time not full for the contract in the commons. In addition, Olivier Dussopt has also indicated the removal of the day of deficiency for pregnant women.

A single instance of social dialogue

The text also aims to simplify the representative bodies of the staff within the public service - there would be 40,000 today - creating a single instance of social dialogue. It will be designed to "deliberate on management rules, discuss the evolution of the occupations...", said this morning, Olivier Dussopt. A provision strongly opposed by the trade unions, because the multiplication of instances allows them to multiply their number of elected and permanent. Importantly, this reform act the disappearance of the administrative committees joint that manage their careers. To be clear, the promotions, ratings, sanctions, and transfers of public servants should not be subject to the opinion of the staff representatives. The other hot topic, the working time should be harmonized to comply with the minimum legal (many local authorities are below that of 1 607 hours per year).

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The introduction of merit pay, collective or individual, is also condemned by the trade unions. "It is a real breach in the statute of the public service," says Bruno Colignon (FAFP). "How does one measure merit in an emergency department? How to reward the merit?", queries Bernadette Groison (FSU). Employee representatives were strongly opposed to more widespread use of contractual (and for longer contracts, up to six years), which are already more than a million in the public service.

With these measures, the government has, unsurprisingly, drawn all the trade unions of civil servants against him. Upstream of the introduction of the bill, they have turned up the pressure. Eight of the nine organizations were asked Tuesday to the prime minister to "suspend" the reform.

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Despite a year of consultation, the trade unions are protesting against the method of the executive, accused of not listening. "The design that appears, for the moment, the government of the social dialogue is to do absolutely nothing to retain what was proposed in the unions," protested Jean-Marc Canon, secretary general of the CGT officials, the first organization in the public sector.

the Threat of strike action

They were in any case not obtained neither wage increases nor thaw of the index point, which freezes their wages since 2010 - with the exception of 2016 and 2017 - and are still protesting against the restoration of the day of absence or compensation of the increase of the CSG, is considered to be insufficient.

After you have met Olivier Dussopt Wednesday, the trade unions will now consult their base. They will meet again on February 19 to decide the action to be taken. Including a strike? "It is in the landscape. Everything is laid out, everything is possible," replies Bernadette Groison (FSU). Force ouvrière, which is not attached to the call of the intersyndicale and demands for weeks for a strong reaction, has already called a strike for inter-professional public-private. In recent months, the mobilizations of civil servants were not together very long processions.

Date Of Update: 16 February 2019, 00:00
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