Is It Always the Little Guys Who Foot the Bill?
Oh, look at that! Just when you thought it was safe to check your bank account, we learn that it’s employees and retirees who are once again being asked to cough up the cash for the deficiencies that have grown like a bad haircut over the past seven years. And for whose benefit? Spoiler alert: large companies, shareholders, and managers. But don’t worry—our beleaguered civil servants will not be left empty-handed! They’ll just be left handcuffed with budget cuts!
Public Services and the Disappearing Act
So, what’s the government’s grand plan to save a cool 40 billion euros? It’s like a magic trick gone wrong; instead of pulling a rabbit from a hat, they’re pulling resources from our already strapped public services! I’m talking fewer doctors, teachers, and essential services than you can shake a stick at. They’ll be cutting:
- 5 billion euros in savings from local authorities—because who needs roads and schools, right?
- 2,200 job cuts in the public service, which is backhandedly hiding 4,000 cuts in national education. I mean, why not just drop a nuke on our education system while we’re at it!
- The freezing of the index point for civil servants in 2024 and 2025, after their salaries have already plummeted by over 18% since 2010! Yeah, salary freezes are the new black!
Now, listen, finance ministers: public aid to businesses amounts to a staggering 175 billion euros annually—no strings attached. It’s like giving your friend a credit card and saying, “Good luck, mate!” Because, clearly, we can afford to misplace a third of the state budget. Bravo!
Ah, Healthcare—The Price Is Right…Out of Reach!
Let’s take a moment to discuss the PLFSS (the Social Security finance bill) and the avalanche of cuts that are direct hits on the around-the-clock heroes—employees and retirees. As if we aren’t aware of the fact that every year, about 5,000 hospital beds vanish like socks in a dryer. Just poof—gone! And now this:
- Lowering the coverage rate for medical consultations from 70% to 60%. Well, isn’t that just cozy? Your doctor bills just became a game of ‘guess how much I owe you!’
- Lowering daily allowances. So, if you’re feeling under the weather, better make sure your sick days are really ‘just a sneeze!’
This is not just a financial issue; it’s a health crisis waiting to happen! Play with our health budget, and you might as well be playing with fire—except the flames are rising from our hospitals!
Retirement: The Forever Cut!
Let’s not forget our wonderful retirees who are faced with an upcoming pension freeze, which translates to 200 to 300 euros less in their pockets annually. After extending the retirement age by two additional years, can we not let them enjoy the little bit of their golden years without pulling out their wallets every five minutes?
A Plan for a Brighter Tomorrow (Or Just More Cuts?)
In the spirit of optimism, the CGT is here to propose an alternative—revolutionary, isn’t it? We don’t just need cuts; we need some actual investment and fair distribution of resources. Let’s:
- Invest massively in public services, rather than treating them like pocket change!
- Pursue a strategic reindustrialization plan. Is that a fancy way of saying we need to bring some stuff back?
- Implement a tax reform for *ahem* ‘tax justice’—because the rich have stuffing their pockets down to a fine art! Think corporate tax returns that actually look real!
- And let’s finish this off with an appeal to fight against tax evasion—because it’s not fair that 90 billion annually goes to tax dodgers while we look for pennies in the couch cushions!
And hey, while we’re at it, how about creating a shiny new public service for early childhood and elderly care? Because frankly, treating these vital areas like an uninvited guest is getting old!
Where Do We Go From Here?
To wrap this up with a cherry on top—This is a rallying cry for **everyone** to take action! Unionize, organize, and demand salary increases. Because if we don’t secure our rights, we’ll be left with nothing but empty pockets and a government that thinks it’s okay to tax us to the hilt. Let’s show them we’re united, we’re strong, and we’re not just cash cows waiting to be milked dry!
Just channeling the essence of Carr’s wit, Gervais’s boldness, Evans’s energy, and Atkinson’s cheeky charm for a conversation on financial accountability! Let’s keep it sharp, sassy, and supportive of the movement for justice and fair treatment for all workers.
It is not employees and retirees who should be asked to pay the bill
In the continuity of macronism, these are employees and retirees who are asked to pay the bill again of the deficit widened for 7 years for the sole benefit of large companies, their shareholders and managers.
Despite the announcement of the increase in taxes for the richest and for businesses, the CGT denounces cosmetic measures which serve as a smokescreen to hide new austerity decisions for the lives of workers.
PLF – cuts in our public services
The government has unveiled the various regressive measures planned to achieve 40 billion savings. While our public services are running out of steamthe government decides once again to amputate them by providing in particular:
- 5 billion euros in savings in local authorities,
- A balance of 2,200 job cuts in the public service which hides a total of 4,000 cuts in national education, while thousands are already missing, like in the hospital.
- The freezing of the index point of civil servants in 2024 and 2025while their salaries have fallen by more than 18% since 2010, and a 1% increase in the index point (2 billion) represents only 2% of public aid to businesses.
This is a red line for the CGT, which warns of the already catastrophic state of our public services
Savings can be made, you just have to look public aid to businesses : each year, 175 billion in public aid is paid to businesses, an amount multiplied by 1.5 in 15 years, without targeting, without conditions or compensation, without evaluation or control of their effectivenessparticularly in terms of employment. This is a third of the state budget.
PLFSS – savings at the expense of our health
On the PLFSS (Social Security finance bill), the CGT denounces measures of which employees and retirees will be the first victims.
Even though there have been an average of 5,000 hospital bed closures per year since COVID, and access to care and health is increasingly difficult and costly, the government is tackling head-on to social security expenditure by:
- Lowering the rate of coverage for medical consultations by Health Insurance from 70 to 60% while their amount will increase.
- Lowering the amount of daily allowances social security.
Social security is an essential right for all workers, touch it it affects the rights to health and care for all.
The CGT reaffirms its firm opposition to the freezing of retirees’ pensions for 6 months
This cut represents 200 to 300 euros reduction per year in their portfolio. After a reform which imposed 2 more years, they cannot yet be subject to an austerity tightening.
Finally, the CGT is alarmed by the absence of measures concerning the care of our elders and early childhood. After the numerous scandals revealing a failing healthcare system of lucrative private groups, it is necessary to invest in the creation of a public service for early childhood and the elderly.
CGT proposals – Another budget and real social security are possible
- Invest massively in our public services and our infrastructure to prepare for the future.
- Put the budget at the service of strategic reindustrialization plan of the country.
- Set up a tax reform which would allow more justice fiscale including:
- the reestablishment of taxes for businesses (corporate tax and CVAE), and the modulation of corporate tax based on the behavior of businesses in social and environmental matters,
- dissuasive taxation of dividends and share buybacks,
- the reinstatement of the wealth tax,
- better progressivity of the Income Tax,
- the reduction of VAT on basic necessities,
- the fight against fraud and tax evasion (90 billion annually) by hiring financial inspectors.
- the conditionality of 175 billion annual public aid to businesses,
- the expansion of the tax on polluting activities to encourage the ecological transition.
- Regarding social security : it must fully meet needs and revenue must be ensured by social contributions.
- Review the policy of exemptions from social contributions, the amount of which amounts to 80 billion (increased by 20 billion since the arrival of Emmanuel Macron)
- Repeal the pension reform
The CGT calls on employees to organize themselves by unionizing in companies and services to win salary increases.
