Decentralisation has implications for state employees

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Legislation devolving new responsibilities to France's regions and départements came into force in August 2004. One result is the transfer of some 130,000 state employees to lower levels of government. These include 90,000 non-teaching staff in the national education system, and their transfer is a source of concern for trade unions and local authorities alike. Devolved staff will be able to retain their current career paths, compensation schemes, working time arrangements and benefit packages.

Legislation devolving new jurisdictions to the regions and départements (FR0304107F) was promulgated on 13 August 2004 when parliament passed - without debate in the National Assembly - a law on local responsibility dubbed the Decentralisation Act Part II (acte II de la décentralisation), Part I having being the 'Deferre' legislation enacted in 1982-3.

New powers for regions and départements

The main powers devolved to the regions in the 180-plus articles of the new law include a coordinating role in economic development, the administration of vocational training and heritage. The départements have gained jurisdiction over 'social action' and approximately 15,000 kilometres of main roads hitherto financed by central government. Responsibility for some 95,000 non-teaching staff in the national education system has been transferred to both the regions and départements.

To fund these newly-acquired responsibilities, the government is planning to transfer EUR 8 billion to the départements and EUR 3 billion to the regions on 1 January 2005. However, this presupposes the clarification of the funding relationship between the state and the various tiers of local government. This relationship is currently far from clear and the proposed transfer has stirred up controversy over how exactly the Government intends to withdraw from its funding commitment. Because of new responsibilities for areas such as the 'minimum integration income' (Revenu minimum d’insertion, RMI) scheme (FR0306103F) social action and educational technicians, tradespeople and support staff, the devolution of powers will put a severe strain on département budgets.

The Domestic Petroleum Products Tax (taxe intérieure sur les produits pétroliers, TIPP), has been one of the main points of discussion between local elected officials and the government, since implementation of the Decentralisation Act Part II is to be almost entirely funded from part of the revenue raised from this levy. However, this area is now subject to greater control by the EU authorities than in the past. Consequently, only when the government has undertaken a shake-up of the funding arrangements between the central state and local government and an overhaul of the 'taxe professionnelle'- a tax on businesses paid to local authorities - will it be really possible to assess just how serious the government is about boosting local government income to match the transferred spending commitments.

Significant transfer of state employees

In what some commentators saw as an attempt to avoid the sensitive issue of the transfer of national education system support staff being discussed by MPs and Senators at the start of the new academic year, the government used Article 49-3 of the Constitution in July as a way of pushing its legislation through parliament. The possibility of transferring these staff, which was first raised in a report by Pierre Mauroy (of the Socialist Party) in October 2000, has nevertheless been resisted by left-wing presidents of regional assemblies, who fear that the additional financial burden will force them to raise taxes or to renege on election pledges. There has been especially stiff opposition among education sector trade unions, which are concerned that local governments might be tempted in the long run to outsource some jobs to the private sector. Indeed, the government had been forced to abandon its plans to transfer careers counsellors and educational psychologists to local authorities.

In order to ensure the transfer to the regions and départements without loss of pay, benefits or status of some 130,000 state employees, including more than 90,000 education support staff and over 30,000 employees of the ministry responsible for infrastructure and cultural affairs, these staff will have two years in which to decide whether they wish to join the local civil service or alternatively to work on a permanent secondment basis while retaining their status within their original department. Devolved staff will be able to retain their current career paths, compensation schemes, working time arrangements and benefit packages under a 'parity agreement' between the central government and local civil services.

Reaction

The trade unions, which had called for industrial action in bid to stop the transfer of non-teaching education staff, remain concerned. In the view of Gérard Aschieri, the general secretary of the Unitary Union Federation (Fédération syndicale unitaire, FSU), there are no cast-iron guarantees that such areas as school canteen services will not be outsourced. Equally, on the issue of working time for example, an unofficial agreement currently makes it possible to ask non-teaching staff to work longer hours when students are in school and fewer hours during school holidays. There is no guarantee that this arrangement will survive.

As matters stood before devolution, the action of local governments, which will see their workforces increase four -or five-fold, was restricted to formulating strategy and encouraging its implementation, with these tasks being carried out by 'grade A' civil servants. Under the new deal, local authorities will find themselves facing the day-to-day management of 'grade C' employees and a new management culture. Many uncertainties remain. Elected officials have expressed concerns over the specific status of non-teaching staff within their administrations and raised a number of questions. Will it be possible, even with their consent, to move non-teaching staff from high schools to, for example, the department of social action or housing? Will the differences between state civil servants and their local counterparts - who, as a rule of thumb, work longer but also climb the career ladder more quickly than state employees - be retained or will there be an upward or downward alignment of the two?

More generally speaking, the level of extra state funding is the greatest cause of concern for elected officials, such as the chair of the Higher Local Civil Service Council (Conseil supérieur de la fonction publique territoriale, CSFPT), and Socialist Party leader of the Nord departmental assembly (Conseil général du Nord), Bernard Derozier. The Nord region, for example, lost a third of its 'employment-solidarity contracts' in the national education system at the start of the new school year in 2004. People employed under this scheme often did the work of non-teaching staff. The president of Ile-de-France region, Jean-Paul Huchon (Socialist Party) believes that the transfer of non-teaching staff will add 30% to his authority's required operating budget, a shortfall that will not be covered by the national government. In his view, he will have to cut services, outsource or raise local taxes.

Commentary

Demonstrations have taken place throughout 2004 in opposition to the Decentralisation Act Part II, perhaps signalling a shift in attitudes. These protests possibly demonstrate that decentralisation becomes unpopular when local and regional elected officials become involved in societal choices such as education, employment, culture and security. Decentralisation, which is one of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s flagship reforms, has met resistance from the outset from all quarters including elected officials, trade unions and political parties. Over the past few years, devolution has taken on the threatening form of illegitimate interference with the societal choices traditionally made at national level. In any event, recently there seems to have been a shift in its scope. It is no longer just a relatively specialised and technical scheme relating to the devolution of powers, taxation, 'deconcentration' or local public management, but has become an issue for the whole of society.

The organisation of civil service employment has a very important role to play in the changes under way. In the new order, 'proximity' management means better public service. While most on the left and right of the political spectrum appear to agree with this principle, it is once again the way it is to be implemented and the way that the government intends to shift national funding commitments to local government that are fuelling debate. (Odile Join-Lambert, IRES)