Unlimited strike: AP-HP unions mobilize to defend the 1945 Social Security system

In the Île-de-France region, healthcare workers and paramedics are being asked to leave their white coats in the locker room starting September 5th and until further notice. The AP-HP inter-union (Force Ouvrière, UNSA, CGT, CFTC, CFDT) formalized the filing of a strike notice this Friday during a press conference in the Ambroise Croizat room of the Paris Labor Exchange.

The battle against the 5.5 billion budget cuts that the Bayrou government still plans for in 2026 Social Security spending has been launched under the symbolic patronage of the co-creator of universal and solidarity-based Social Security.

The government, which estimates the deficit of public hospitals in 2024 at 460 million euros , notably due to increases in spending in university hospitals, still intends to tighten the screw to make savings of 100 million euros over a year by reducing the deficit to 358 million euros in 2025.

And 2026 does not look any better, according to the National Objective for Health Insurance Expenditure (ONDAM) limited by François Bayrou to +2% in 2026, when the natural increase in health expenditure amounts to +5% per year.

A few days before this call for a strike, the executive was planning to pass three decrees before the confidence vote on September 8, restricting medical coverage (increasing the co-payment, increasing flat-rate contributions and doubling medical deductibles) and increasing the co-payment of patients. "We oppose the acceleration of this bloodletting," says Jean-Emmanuel Cabo, Force Ouvrière staff representative.

Exhausted and understaffed, the caregivers present at the Bourse du travail describe the deterioration of their working conditions in Parisian establishments. They are demanding "an end to mobility and imposed 12-hour days" , "more qualified hiring" as well as "the defense of the special status of AP-HP staff" .

"The State wants us to work more," while at the same time "it is giving billions of euros to the Army," the inter-union believes. Jean-Emmanuel Cabo denounces the reduced vacations this summer. Hospitalization rates continue to increase in the public sector: in 2024, a 2.2% increase in hospital attendance, or 100,000 additional stays recorded according to DREES, the statistical service of the Ministry of Health. Adding the private sector, hospital attendance is at the same levels as before the Covid crisis (21.3 million admissions over the year).

The government has announced that it has reopened 600 beds since 2022 and plans to add 500 by the end of 2025. "I don't believe it, it's just hype," says Laurence Stevens. The UNSA secretary general describes the deterioration in care conditions: "Twenty years ago in geriatrics, I had 35 minutes per patient to get them up, wash them, and take them to eat. Today, if we go over 15 minutes, we're too slow. But we're talking about humans," he recalls.

The AP-HP unions have not agreed to participate in the "Block Everything" citizens' movement on Wednesday, September 10. However, they will participate in the national interprofessional and inter-union day on September 18, which they hope to extend to October 4 to "celebrate" the 80th anniversary of the creation of Social Security.