This track has the favour of the Government

After pensions and wages, the Secretary of State for public service, Georges Tron, tackles a new explosive subject. Yesterday, he opened with the unions of the discussions on the rights and means granted to them to fulfil their missions. It is a vast work that opens, both the rules in force, dating back to the 1980s, are incomplete (figure cases are omitted, as the exercise of trade union activities outside the service period), heterogeneous of a slope of the service, and general view, "obsolete".

Behind the future revision of these provisions lie especially important financial issues. So far, lack of reliable data, the largest blur ruled the reality of the means granted to trade unions. But a large survey presented yesterday by four bodies of inspection, including the General lnspection of Social Affairs (Igas), brings valuable and compelling elements of answers.

According to this study, first of kind and led to all administrations of the Loiret and the Rhône, the State, the communities and hospitals would in these two departments judged types at least "134 EUR per officer per year to the expenditure of support to the activity of trade unions", and probably many more: the specific investigation lack of available data on all types of relevant expenses (before equipped premises)(, lack permissions, discharge of services, grants), this total is "minimal" and must instead meet in reality "around 250 euros per agent" per year. Extrapolated nationally (5.2 million of agents), support for Union activity would therefore cost 700 million to EUR 1.3 billion per year, a range which is not advanced in the report but that does not disprove the Rue de Grenelle.

Homogenise the rules

Trade unions have quickly understood the danger. The cost "is not the good gateway to talk: these representatives, be they directors, members of the joint technical committees or trade union leaders are useful to their administrations", insists Jean-Marc Canon (CGT). The entourage of Georges Tron is reassuring: "the first issue is not to reduce the dedicated envelope but to establish traceability and transparency of the vested means unions."

To this end, the authors of the study recommend mandatory for every public employer an annual report on the financial and material resources allocated to the unions. The study advocates also simplify and homogenise the rules in force, including basing the bulk of the different types of leave of absences and discharges from service in a single device, called "time of delegation." With this package, the unions would gain "in freedom in the distribution and use of their time", public employers in readability, simplicity of management, insist the authors. The study also recommends the generalization of the proto - coles accommodation between employers and trade unions (for adapting national rules), which remain far authorized only in communities.

Another issue of the discussions is to ensure that trade union activity is not a brake to the career. The report notes that if there are many protective statutory rules (the principle of the advancement in the average), "it is a double risk": Union representatives "to enclose in the duration of functions" which limit their employability or on the contrary, "they hesitate to commit enough fear of harming their career". Two today common pitfalls. The report recommends, to intercept, to generalize for these personal devices of recognition of the experience. This track has the favour of the Government. Discussions will resume at the school.