In late April 2001, the French government unilaterally determined by decree the pay rises to be awarded to civil servants in 2001 and 2002, thus ending talks with the civil service trade unions which began in November 2000. The unions have condemned the government for a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue with them.
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In late April 2001, the French government unilaterally determined by decree the pay rises to be awarded to civil servants in 2001 and 2002, thus ending talks with the civil service trade unions which began in November 2000. The unions have condemned the government for a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue with them.
On 24 April 2001, the Minister for the Civil Service, Michel Sapin, announced his decision to end the talks on civil servants' pay that had begun on 21 November 2000 (FR0012108N), were broken off on 18 January 2001 and featured two day-long strikes on 30 January and 22 March 2001 (FR0104142N). Instead, the rise in pay for the 5.2 million civil servants (state, local authority and hospital employees) and in pensions for the 4 million retired civil servants were fixed unilaterally by a decree adopted by the cabinet on 25 April.
The value of the "index point", used as the basis for calculating civil servants' pay, will now rise by 1.2% in 2001 (0.5% on 1 May, and 0.7% on 1 December) and by 1.2% in 2002 (0.5% on 1 March and 0.7% on 1 December). According to the Minister, this will allow the purchasing power of all civil servants to maintain its current level. Moreover, low-waged civil servants (defined as those earning up to 1.4 times the "SMIC" national minimum wage) will receive an extra rise of between one and five index points as of 1 May. The decree's provisions are a slight improvement on the final proposals made by the minister to the unions, and are not far off the level that the latter had been seeking.
The seven civil service trade unions - CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT, CGT-FO, the Confederation of United Trade Unions (Fédération Syndicale Unitaire, FSU) and the National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA) - have roundly criticised the government's decision, particularly because it constitutes another failure for negotiations in the civil service in the wake of the breakdown in 2000 of talks on the reduction of working time (FR0003151F). "Michel Sapin is trampling on dialogue with the unions," declared Michel Périer, the general secretary of CFDT's civil service federation. Roland Gaillard, the general secretary of CGT-FO's civil service federation (UIAFP-FO) concluded that "the government has sacrificed the civil servants to comply with the commitment it made to Brussels to reduce public expenditure." CGT-FO is planning a response to the decision for the end of May.
Disputes over pay in the civil service are on the increase, both at sector level and within specific occupational categories. Some categories of civil servants, such as the nurses in March 2001 (FR0104144N), and the midwives in April-May (FR0105151N), have already obtained special rises. The move to the 35-hour week, which in the civil service must come into effect by January 2002, will be carried out in a decentralised fashion. This will increase the likelihood of more such disputes taking place.
Eurofound soovitab viidata sellele väljaandele järgmiselt.
Eurofound (2001), Negotiations fail over civil service pay rises, article.
