About a hundred employees home help was gathered Thursday morning in Saint-Étienne in front of the Loire prefecture and the Departmental Council to demand, once again, recognition of their work and in particular of their role since the start of the coronavirus epidemic . These caregivers, for the most part, feel unfairly sidelined by the state, becausethey did not benefit from the Covid bonus and the salary increase granted to staff of hospitals and nursing homes as part of the Ségur de la Santé, in July 2020.
Without us, the hospitals would be even more saturated
Akima Chalabi has been a home care aide for 30 years in Saint-Étienne, within the AIMV. This 53-year-old CGT representative still talks about her job with great affection. She feels useful, and she loves that feeling. But she, and especially her younger colleagues, she says, needs to feel recognized for what she does. “We don’t have the support of high authorities, of the Departmental Council in particular; the Covid bonus we were not concerned, if it was not the structure which made an effort for its employees but on its cash flow, but on a daily basis, the Department does not listen to us and we would just like to have an attentive ear “, she laments.
The CGT’s demands are clear: a salary increase of 183 euros for all medico-social employees (as provided for by the Ségur de la santé) “because without us, hospitals would be even more saturated”, ajoute Akima.
Sector in danger
Also in his fifties, Christophe, a caregiver in a SSIAD (home nursing service) of the ADMR in Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay, believes that his job is “suspended”. These are the words he wrote on his blouse for this day of demonstration because he fears a flight of young caregivers, because of salaries and lack of recognition. “We have the nursing assistant diploma, the same as a healthcare aide who works in the public sector, and we do not have the same premiums; and if our sector has been muzzled for years, today we is heard because it is very difficult to recruit, however, _we must save the profession of home help_e, so that we can keep people at home for as long as possible, that’s our goal “, assures Christophe.
At the start of their career, home helpers barely touch the minimum wage. Lionel, 35, a home care aide since the end of 2017 in the Roannais, earns for example around 1,450 euros per month. Salary “ridicule” in his eyes, but he remains motivated because home help is really a vocation for him. He tried to work in a retirement home, but soon came back, “because we don’t have time to treat properly, I was sickened”, he confides. However, even if he loves his job, he never sees himself not necessarily spend your entire career in the sector. _”_Çit’s going to be difficult “, he admits.
– Tifany Antkowiak
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