Bayonne Hospital: hundreds of workers displaced on the eve of negotiations on working hours – France Bleu

There were about 300 of them, this Tuesday at noon, to surround the representatives of the union in the hall of the Bayonne hospital, together when the movement ended with other colleagues. A move that coincides with the concerns of the Basque Coast Hospital (CHCB) staff. The management recently announced that theopen conversations to review the agreement on the reduction of working hours since 2002. The four unions that represent the institution (CGT, CFDT, FO, Unsa) deny the desire the hospital, which has a deficit of 18 million euros in 2023, to save money “behind workers”. The director, Frédéric Espenel, talks to him about it“Securing the future of the CHCB” by modernizing it and avoiding job cuts. He will begin talks with union representatives this Wednesday afternoon.

“There is no time to properly care for patients”

Reorganization of working time concern about 3,500 workers The hospital center through its various sites, except for doctors and managers in particular. Many of them take a small view of the management’s recommendations regarding the organization of days in 7.5 hours, 10 hours or 12 hours, depending on the services and the type of patients they care for. For Maryse, a nurse for almost 30 years at CHCB, fear “There is no time to properly care for patients. We are already working a lot of overtime.” Like many of her colleagues, she finds the question of dressing and undressing times and meal times, included in working time, unusual: “When we work 7am to 2:45pm, we sit down to eat, whenever we can, at 2:40pm to 2:45pm. So they want to take away the meal break that we don’t already have. .”

Especially since management wants to return to 7:30am days and no later than 7:45am and so eliminate 5 days of RTT out of the 19 workers affected by this rhythm. For Aritz, a hospital chef, this is just shooting himself in the foot: “In the team, we all come from traditional backgrounds and I’m not going to hide from you that we came back to live a little more normal life (…) if our advantages are gradually reduced”withthe attractiveness of the hospital suffers. This is also the opinion of Marie-Pierre Etchebarne, CGT representative from the hospital: “We are questioning those who were conquered who certainly managed to relieve some working conditions that were very difficult for the agents and who were satisfied because it allowed them to have days off to be have to cut back a little and set aside their private lives. “ RTTs that explain, according to her, that there are no problems that the CHCB has in recruiting, barring exceptions.

“Better balance professional and personal life” and reduce costs

On the other hand, on the management side, we emphasize that a review of working hours and organization of services, which dates back to 2002, will make it possible upgrade hospital workyour“Improve the readability of today’s rapidly changing charts” and attracting young professionals “who intend to be able to better reconcile professional and personal life”assures Frédéric Espenel, director of the CHCB. However, he is aware that this is not the main reason for this desire to review the organization. In 2023, the hospital complex of the Basque coast suffered a deficit of 18 million euros on a budget of just over 400 million. According to the director, among the reasons for this “hole”. “The organization of services, the methods for developing timetables as well as the local agreement on working hours generate costs that are undoubtedly higher than those that can be experienced in other organized institutions in a different way.” So the goal is clearly to gain efficiency and reduce “new charges”, whether it is fixed term contracts, overtime or the use of temporary work, which “greatly increased in previous years.” Management is particularly keen to create internal, non-department-affiliated “flying brigades” that will be able to provide replacements as needed.

But there are also other reasons for the large deficit: inflation and energy costs, recruitment in recent years and the wage increase decided by the State after Covid, but the funding given to hospitals has not been fully compensated. This is what makes the unions tick: “We have expenses that are greater than income. The director decides, under pressure from the Regional Health Group, to get money back from the back of the representatives who work with patients.” Frédéric Espenel denies this. According to him, there is no pressure, but a desire to respect the rules: “This is not the case in certain places, the rules regarding the number of working hours per week are not respected (maximum 48h), sur the number of weekends worked in the month (maximum 2).“

The director of the CHCB ensures that nothing is set in stone and says wants to talk peacefully with unions and workers service par service. “I want, through discussion and clarification of all issues, to reassure the workers: there is no reason, in my opinion, to worry. Which does not stop him from applying some pressure by ensuring that there will be no job cuts, unlike other centers in France, and his desire to reorganize working time and schedules.”He wants to avoid getting to that point.”.