Employees of Saint-Martin hospital appeared in the shocking image on Thursday February 22. Several dozen of them lay down in the hall under white sheets stained blood red. The explanation can be found on a banner: “It is not with 0% that you will keep your caregivers”. Understand 0% salary increase. Unsuccessful negotiations with management resulted in an indefinite strike since February 14. At the Parc polyclinique, around a hundred employees took turns in a rally last Friday, again denouncing remuneration that was too low and above all fixed.
Private health sector staff are rumbling in Caen after disappointing mandatory annual negotiations (NAO). “The proposals do not suit us: a small category and 0% general increase. This is not the first year,” squeaks Marie Deleau, CFDT union representative, on behalf of the inter-union at Saint-Martin hospital. “We knew that the Ramsay group (who owns the site) is a tough company to negotiate with. But there was a wait with inflation,” insists the representative of “colleagues struggling to make ends meet, who have to work two jobs. »
For its part, the inter-union of the polyclinic evokes a delicate situation “for low salaries, which do not evolve” and criticizes “the absence of recognition of seniority. According to its figures, a third of nurses left the establishment in 2022. One in six employees, even, all professions combined. “There is a sharp increase in turnover. Half of the workforce has less than five years of seniority. Because we also have to take into account the work overload, the difficulties of taking leave and recovering. »
“We work for a company that makes a profit on our small means”
“The government’s announcements have led to a little improvement in the public but not in the private sector,” we add to the polyclinic. The cause, according to Marie Deleau, of Saint-Martin hospital: the very financial policy of the managers of these sites. “Before, I thought I worked in a hospital, but I work for a company,” laments the trade unionist. It is managed by an Australian group which has very little consideration for us, which makes profits on our limited means. With business management and business profitability. » In a context of blockage, discussions are very difficult. Thursday February 22, deputies Arthur Delaporte (Calvados, PS) and François Ruffin (Somme, LFI) came to support the striking staff at Saint-Martin hospital.
At the polyclinic, the situation is not there yet. Following the rally, the hospital director made new proposals: “no increase, just a small bonus. We will communicate with the employees and we will see management again this Monday,” say the unions. Directions that remained unreachable to respond to us. The social protest aims to voice the dismay of the employees of these establishments, sometimes tempted by a departure for the public hospital. “Health needs the private sector too,” we are told. Last year, employees of the Miséricorde clinic, the other private site in Caen, went on strike for the same reasons. A sign of generalized unease and more determined mobilization.