The most powerful public sector union in France has threatened to disrupt the Paris Olympics as it submitted a strike notice for almost the entire summer.
The hardline General Confederation of Labour union brushed aside a government offer of bonus payments of up to €1,500 for public sector staff asked to work during the Olympics. The union said its members wanted more money and more time off.
The issue is highly sensitive in a country whose desire to transform the Olympics into a fortnight of national grandeur is clashing with its deep attachment to summer holidays.
The union’s announcement is a setback for President Macron’s government, which is hoping that thousands of civil servants and local council staff will report for work during the Olympics between July 26 and August 11 at the height of the holiday season.
The union said the strike notice between April 15 and September 15 covered civil servants, local authority staff and hospital workers. The notice does not mean that public sector employees will down tools for the entire five months, but it authorises them to walk out at any time during that period.
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The union said there would be no “Olympic truce”, raising the prospect of industrial action during the Games in sectors ranging from refuse collection to monuments and public hospitals. With Macron determined to turn the Olympics into a showcase for France, and also for his presidency, unions believe he will cave in to their demands.
The union hopes that despite a public sector deficit of 5.5 per cent of national wealth last year, the president will prefer to open the purse strings still further than to risk seeing rubbish piling up on the streets, the Louvre closed and other such embarrassments when the eyes of the world are on France.
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In a statement, the union said it was demanding “salary compensation in the name of the professional constraints generated by the Games” and the recruitment of additional public sector staff on permanent contracts along with the right to “disconnect”, by which it means not answering calls and emails out of hours.
The union movement, however, is split over whether to disrupt the Olympics. The more moderate French Democratic Confederation of Labour union is refusing to back the strike and says it does not “want to spoil this festive moment”.
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The government is promising bonuses of between €500 and €1,500 for public sector staff who report for work during the Olympics.
The 30,000 or so national police officers who will be deployed for the Games will receive bonuses of up to €1,900. They do not have the right to strike, but some have issued warnings that they may call in sick during the Olympics if they are not paid enough for postponing their summer holidays. Macron hopes that the exceptional bonus payments will avert an epidemic of sick leave.
