The Minister of Civil Service Stanislas Guerini indicated on Saturday on Franceinfo that “a little less than 100,000 public employees will be directly mobilized” in the organization of the Olympic Games, adding that he did not believe in a strike during this period. There will, moreover, be “many public agents who will sometimes be ahead of the Olympic Games, mobilized, for example, to issue visas, because there is an increase in activity in our services (… “The public service will be extraordinarily mobilized,” continued the minister.
Last week, a source close to the matter indicated after an Olympic preparation meeting that the bulk of the number of civil servants mobilized would come from the police (25,000 agents deployed) and the army (20,000). But in a context of consultations to reform the public service, the two main unions in the sector, the CGT and Force Ouvrière (FO), have filed strike notices including the period of the Olympic Games (from July 26 to August 11 for the Olympic Games and from August 28 to September 8 for the Paralympic Games).
“I don’t think there will be a strike” during the Olympics, assures Stanislas Guerini
The CGT is demanding in particular “long-term recruitment, salary compensation for professional constraints generated by the Games, (…) rights to leave, chosen teleworking and disconnection”. FO, for its part, is calling for better pay for civil servants. “I do not believe that there will be a strike during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, that is not the feeling I have when I interact with many public officials who want this event to succeed,” said Saturday Stanislas Guerini.
The minister assures that he wants to “support” the public agents involved in the organization of the Olympics, for example with “places in crèche, universal service employment vouchers”, in addition to bonuses. In March, he announced that bonuses of 500 euros (“temporary increase in activity” and one-off “constraint” on leave), 1,000 euros (“temporary increase in activity” and “sustained” constraint) and 1,500 euros ( “particularly high, long-term” mobilization and “strong limitation” of leave days) would be planned depending on the impact of the Games on the activity of the service and the taking of leave.