Arthur de Laborde, edited by Laura Laplaud
modified to
7:48 p.m., January 27, 2023
After a first strike movement throughout France on January 19, the national secretary of the PCF, Fabien Roussel, hopes that the mobilization next Tuesday will bring together even more people. In particular, he called on the mayors to show solidarity and to symbolically close their town hall.
They respond to Fabien Roussel’s call. On Tuesday, several left-wing mayors will close the doors of town halls in support of the mobilization against pension reform. According to Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labor, this decision, presented as symbolic, is a moral or even political problem. Do mayors have the right to close their town hall?
A minimum service must be ensured
As in schools or in transport, a minimum service must be provided. In town halls, it concerns everything related to public reception, such as civil status or the celebration of marriages. It is a question of respecting what is called the continuity of the public service, a principle with constitutional value in the same way as the right to strike.
However, in reality, if the number of strikers is too high, the minimum service is impossible to put in place and the prefect has the possibility of requisitioning certain agents, under very strict conditions. But these should not be fulfilled, as the services of the town halls concerned are not considered vital.
No notice required
In some cases, such as in Paris, it is planned that a banner reading “Town halls in solidarity with the social movement” will be displayed on the building of the town hall on Tuesday. However, in theory, in the public service, agents cannot normally express political demands. If an appeal is filed, a judge could therefore consider that it is an attack on the neutrality of the public service and prohibit such a banner.
In the past, municipalities have already been sanctioned for having publicly supported strikers. For this, it is necessary to prove that financial support has been provided. In this case, the town halls will be closed so all the agents will be paid, including the strikers because they do not have the obligation to file a notice and will simply be undetectable.