The employees of the private clinics in Besançon (Doubs) and Dole (Jura) went on strike this Tuesday, June 18, 2024, to demand a revaluation of low wages and careers. This national movement, organized by the CFDT Santé-Sociaux and UNSA Santé Sociaux, also affects nursing homes and private thermal establishments in France.
“It is necessary for this amendment 33 to be applied!” An amendment that mainly provides for better pay for low-wage workers in private clinics. The demand is simple even though the context of this national strike is more complex. At the Parc polyclinic in Dole, there were no surgical interventions on Tuesday, June 18. The majority of the operating room staff are on strike. The outpatient and cleaning services are also affected by this national strike call. According to Sylvie Robin, the director of the private establishment, about 35 out of 45 employees are participating in the strike, either for the whole day or intermittently.
Will the patients of this polyclinic be able to come in the coming days to receive treatment? “We are waiting to know the national guidelines from the CFDT,” answers Sylvie Robin, who emphasizes the quality of social dialogue in the establishment. Finally, in the late afternoon, representatives from Besançon and Dole announced the end of the strike, but the notice is still in place.
In France, according to the CFDT Santé-Sociaux, there were stoppages on June 18 in about a hundred private establishments. In Franche-Comté, along with those from the Parc polyclinic in Dole, the employees of the Besançon polyclinic also joined this national strike.
This protest is part of long negotiations between the Ministry of Health, the Federation of Private Hospitals (employers), and the employee unions to revalue wages in the private healthcare sector.
There is an urban legend that suggests that salaries are more attractive in the private sector than in the public sector, but that is a misconception. This is mainly due to bonuses.
Romuald Colomb, CFDT Santé Sociaux of Doubs
This strike follows the government’s refusal to finance “amendment 33” with a set of provisions from a new collective agreement. This amendment aims to revalue low wages and seniority, but the Minister delegate for Health and Prevention, Fréderic Valletoux, stated in a letter addressed on May 24 to private health sector employers that “the government will not be able to finance the implementation of ‘Amendment 33′ in its current form.”
For now, this amendment can only be implemented if all the funding is secured. This is the crux of the negotiation.
Discussions have been ongoing for several years to overhaul the collective agreement for employees in the “for-profit” healthcare sector. Negotiations under the auspices of the State, as 92% of the resources of private establishments are covered by rates set by the Ministry of Health and public funding. Recently, the ministry, employer unions, and employee unions agreed on a collective agreement that includes this famous “amendment 33”.
“We had to adapt the collective agreement to the labor market, we had to negotiate with the unions, it had to be done,” acknowledges Pierre-Etienne Mercier, regional delegate of the Federation of Private Hospitalization in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. This sector is facing recruitment challenges.
Private clinics had threatened to “suspend their activities” from June 3 onwards. They denounced unequal tariff treatment with public hospitals. Private clinics had been unhappy since the government’s announcement of hospital rates for 2024, with increases of 0.3% for private clinics and 4.3% for public hospitals.
However, the private establishments eventually ended their strike after obtaining “progress” from the government. Specifically, funding for night shifts and holidays.
“The commitments and decisions made by the government support the principle of fair treatment” between public and private, the Federation of Private Hospitalization (FHP) said in a statement on May 24, according to AFP, co-signed with the five syndicates of liberal doctors supporting the movement.
According to information provided on May 24 by the FHP, the government has committed to unlocking additional funding for private hospitalization in 2024, and to respect for the years to come “a principle of fair treatment between the different sectors of hospitalization”.
A new development, this time on the side of employees in the so-called “for-profit” healthcare sector. This includes clinics, as well as nursing homes managed by private groups or thermal establishments. CFDT Santé-Sociaux and UNSA Santé-Sociaux are calling for an indefinite strike so that employees are no longer paid below the minimum wage (with bonuses to reach the minimum wage) and that they benefit from career progression. “Even if we are paid below the minimum wage, we have our dignity, our convictions. We fight to have the recognition we deserve,” says Eve Rescanières, general secretary of CFDT Santé-Sociaux during a live speech on Facebook. The CFDT strike notice will be maintained until amendment 33 is applied.
The representative of the 41 hospitals and private clinics in our region seeks to reassure. “We are fighting to continue to negotiate and try to negotiate with the government the funding of this amendment,” says Pierre-Etienne Mercier, regional delegate of the Federation of Private Hospitalization in Burgundy-Franche-Comté.
During this speech on Facebook, Eve Rescanières praised the mobilization of this first day of the strike. The unionist even announced that in a letter to the FHP employers’ union, the Minister of Labor, Health, and Solidarity, Catherine Vautrin, assured on June 18, 2024, that there were “no more obstacles to the implementation of amendment 33”.
The uncertainty of the political calendar following the announcement by the President of the Republic of the dissolution of the National Assembly and the early legislative elections had led some employees not to go on strike. This is the case of the Saint-Vincent clinic in Besançon. “We support the movement,” says Patricia Dreyer, CFDT delegate of this establishment.
How soon will negotiators come back to the table to implement the application of this amendment 33 of the collective agreement for private hospitalization? In theory, its entry into force was scheduled for January 1, 2024, with retroactive effect.
In her letter to the FHP employers, the Minister of Health asks them to “quickly resume the path of social dialogue and find ways to reach an agreement with employee representatives for the implementation of the amendment”. The minister reminds private clinics that the State plans to provide 450 million euros as “additional funding” for this sector. This “very significant financial effort” from public finances must, according to Catherine Vautrin, “benefit the employees of your companies, especially those with the lowest wages.” In other words, employers in private clinics must implement this “amendment 33”, meaning to revalue low wages and take into account salary progression, within the 450 million euros envelope.