Waste, Health, France

After strike action launched on 18 June, with seven strikers having spent 16 days on the roof, health workers at the Pierre Janet psychiatric hospital in Le Havre in northern France are celebrating victory. The dispute was not just about working conditions but also the state of the facilities for welcoming patients. The agreement negotiated to end the dispute involves a commitment to create 34 new jobs with some allocated to mobile services and others to provide better cover for night shifts as well as psychiatric emergencies. There are improvements to working conditions and works will be

Workers at the Vierzon public hospital in central France are involved in strike action to defend services and jobs. The trade unions involved - CGT, CFDT, FO and SUD - have expressed their concern about plans to close surgical, paediatric and maternity services at the hospital leaving local people with long journeys to the nearest facilities. They have called for all services to be maintained, for investment in new facilities, action to tackle the hospital's debt and a stop to any job cuts. Along with strike action the unions organised a human chain around the hospital and have been

Public service trade unions mobilised on 15 May for a demonstration outside the ministry for public service in protest at the spread of contractual employment and the erosion of civil service status. With over a million contractual workers making up a fifth of total civil service employment, the unions are concerned that the government's current plans, which include the prospect of increased use of contracts for public service workers, will further undermine civil service status. The unions argue that the poorer employment conditions of contractual workers are leading to increased inequality

Nine public sector federations came together on 22 May to organise protests and strike action with a national demonstration in Paris as well as 140 other mobilisations across the country. The day of action was in protest at government plans to cut 120000 jobs and the continuing pay freeze imposed on civil servants and public sector employees. Unions are looking for a pay rise for all workers across the public sector and for the government to confirm that it will not interfere with the statutory rules covering civil servants.

Waste workers in the UK and France are taking or planning industrial action over a wide range of issues. Public and private sector workers in France, organised by the CGT union, are taking action over major demands on pay, pensions and health and safety. Meanwhile, in Hull in North East England workers employed by the FCC multinational are protesting over sick pay and inThurrock in South East England the issue is one of surveillance. Workers there are objecting to live streaming to management from cameras in all refuse lorries.

Public service unions report a massive response to their call for a day of protest and strike action on 22 March against government plans for the public sector. While the unions are calling for a wide range of measures to support statutory employment rights, increase pay, reduce precarious employment, improve career development, the government response has been to talk about reforming existing social dialogue structures, weaking the statutory system and extending individualisation of pay. Following the abortive meeting with the government on 3 April, unions will meet on 10 April to discuss how

Eight public sector trade union organisations are planning another day of protest and strike action on 22 May in opposition to government plans for public service reform and proposals to cut 120000 civil service jobs. The unions criticise the spread of contract employment across the public sector and the undermining of the statutory basis of their pay and conditions. The unions will also use the day of action to highlight the need for a real increase in pay in advance of the meeting with the government on pay planned for June.

Workers from three psychiatric hospitals in Paris took strike action and joined a demonstration on 6 September to show their anger over plans to introduce new working time arrangements. The joint action was called by the CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC and SUD trade unions who argue that the management plans for working time for the 5000 employees will mean that workers will lose between five and 10 rest days a year. The trade unions argue that this would be unacceptable in normal circumstances but is even worse in a situation where many workers are already exhausted as a result of excessive workloads.

The nine trade union federations in the public sector have agreed that the government has failed to propose an adequate response to their key demands on pay, purchasing power and sick pay. The unions met on 26 October to discuss the next steps and agreed to boycott the plenary meeting of the public service council due to take place on 6 November. Instead, they will organise a demonstration outside the finance ministry on that day.

Following the massive mobilisation on 30 January (see previous issue of epsucob@NEWS 03, 2018), trade unions in the eldercare sector have called for a second day of strike action on 15 March. The eight trade union organisations have been joined by two further trade unions and again have the support of directors of eldercare institutions. The unions are highly critical of the failure of the government to commit additional funding to the sector. They are repeating their calls for 1:1 staff/client ratio in care homes and more time for home care workers' visits. They also want to see an increase

Public service unions are planning two major days of action over the next two weeks. On 15 March 10 trade unions in the eldercare sector, supported by users and families as well as an association of managers, will take their second day of strike action following the widely supported action on 30 January. They are calling for more funding for the sector and improved pay and career development for workers. On 22 March a group of seven unions have called a day of action in protest at government plans to cut 120000 civil service posts and to call for a pay rise for public service workers.

In a joint statement the CGT, FO and Solidaires trade unions have criticised the government's decision to freeze public sector pay again in 2018 and to introduce a waiting day before civil servants can claim sick pay. The unions are also concerned about career development in the public services and are angry that civil servants are the target of cuts in the government's attempts to reduce public spending. The CFDT trade union has raised similar objections.

Nine public sector trade union organisations have come together to organise a national day of action on 10 October in protest at government attacks on the pay, conditions and jobs of public service workers. The unions accuse President Macron of doing the opposite of what he proposed in his presidential election campaign. Far from increasing pay, his government is maintaining the pay freeze for public sector workers. There is also a threat to 120000 jobs across the public services and the re-introduction of a waiting day before claiming sick pay. The unions will organise demonstrations and