The government and its supporters in the National Assembly persevere in the endless sequence of attacks against the world of work. To steal 5 billion euros from social security, as part of discussions on the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS), the government focused its offensive on public sector agents to divide workers between public and private. Thus, the number of waiting days in the event of sick leave would be increased from 1 to 3 for the civil service. The objective is clear: sick or injured workers must come to work so as not to lose several days of work. The rate of coverage for sickness benefits will also be revised downwards. The Macronists and the LR, as every time they attack workers, obviously presented this measure as a measure of social justice, aiming to be on par with the private sector, whose employees are already forced to serve three days of waiting time. However, today and following victorious battles led by workers, many private employers apply conditions similar to those of civil servants for their employees.
But behind this attack on civil servants there is indeed an attack on private sector workers. According to Les Echos, Macronist deputies, from the right and the center plan to go further. They intend to prevent employees from being paid during their waiting days, “neither by Social Security, nor by their employer, nor by an insurer, for one or more days, known as public order waiting days” . In other words, they wish to align by law the rules of sick leave with the conditions of the worst private companies for all workers without distinction!
The effects of such a measure are well known. Workers will force themselves to come to work even when they are unfit. They will infect their colleagues in the event of an infectious disease. They will aggravate minor illnesses and the consequences of minor accidents. This is how mild tendinitis can lead to chronic pain if left untreated. They will not treat the first symptoms of psychological problems linked to fatigue or stress, the consequences of understaffing, work intensification and brutal management. Until the body or the head breaks, until tragedies and long-term impacts on the health of workers, which will require, ironically, long-term sick leave – for which compensation will have been reduced. This is what specialists on the subject call “presenteeism” (as opposed to absenteeism). Because only in the world of the bourgeoisie is losing wages or being sick a luxury. Workers already tend to under-declare their illnesses and go to work so as not to lose wages. Such a measure will further increase inequalities in access to care, by sorting out people who could afford to stop without being paid and those for whom this would be impossible.
Excessive zeal? Test declarations to pass only part of this measure? In any case, the discussions on austerity open the ball for bourgeois politicians to think of the worst attacks against all workers, public and private! Some people openly dare to talk about raising the retirement age to 66!
The fallacious speeches about “equality” between the public and private sectors are only a pretext to divide workers among themselves, to divide and conquer and impose setbacks on all workers. Faced with the austerity plans of Barnier, Macron and Le Pen, we need a reaction from all workers, from all sectors, from all statuses to refuse the setbacks that they want to impose on us and make the rich pay for their crisis. and to the bosses!
