Low mobilization of civil servants worried about new budget cuts
The CGT, the main representative organization in the civil service, the UNSA, the FSU, Solidaires and the CFE-CGC, called for mobilization and some for strikes, in particular to demand better pay and denounce budgetary debates which, according to them, "are beginning in the worst possible way" for employees.
By The New Obs with AFP
Published on , updated on
The CGT, the main representative organization in the civil service, the UNSA, the FSU, Solidaires and the CFE-CGC, called for mobilization and some for strikes, in particular to demand better pay and denounce budget debates. ACESAR VILETTE / OLA NEWS/SIPA / ACESAR VILETTE / OLA NEWS/SIPA
Public sector workers showed little protest, with sparse demonstrations, in France on Tuesday, May 13, following a call for mobilization and strike action launched by five of the eight public sector unions, who are demanding better pay and fear further budget cuts .
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The CGT, the main representative organization in the civil service, the UNSA, the FSU, Solidaires and the CFE-CGC, called for mobilization and some for strikes, in particular to demand better pay and denounce budgetary debates which, according to them, "are beginning in the worst possible way" for employees.
Two of the main unions, the CFDT and FO, were, however, absent from the call. "While we share the demands, the CFDT does not share the means," Mylène Jacquot, general secretary of the CFDT civil service, told AFP.
A strike also poorly followedAt 2 p.m., 3.1% of state civil servants were on strike, as well as less than 2% in the hospital and territorial civil service, according to the Ministry of Civil Service. The same observation applies to teachers, few of whom strike at midday: 4.29% on a weighted average in primary and secondary schools, according to the Ministry of National Education.
A symbol, as they had made up the bulk of the troops during the last large-scale mobilization in the civil service , on December 5, 2024, when nearly 20% of state civil servants were on strike, and hundreds of thousands of people had marched in France against cost-cutting measures.
After the Barnier government's censure , the agents had obtained the abandonment by the new Bayrou government of the extension of the waiting period from 1 to 3 days for sick agents, but had not managed to force the new executive to give in on the 10% reduction in remuneration in the event of sick leave, nor on the reinstatement of a bonus in favor of purchasing power.
The demonstrations brought together around 300 people in Lille and some 400 in Lyon, AFP journalists noted. The police headquarters did not immediately release figures for the Paris demonstration.
"Jobs cut, salaries sacrificed, staff despised, enough is enough!" chanted the protesters in Lille. Catherine Piecuch, a German teacher and member of the FSU, denounced the "abandonment" of public services, which are "the wealth of those who have nothing."
In the aviation sector, flight cancellations were expected at the airports of Tarbes and Pau, as well as delays at those of Limoges, Marseille and Paris-Orly, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation indicated.
"We are seeing more calls for mobilisation, for rallies, than for strikes, so we are looking at a low strike figure," commented Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, general secretary of the teachers' union SE-Unsa, interviewed by AFP.
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