A year ago, the government introduced a loyalty bonus of 10,000 euros for civil servants and contractors working there for five years. With contrasting results.
Would you work in Seine-Saint-Denis for a bonus of 10,000 euros? Established a year ago to retain officials who shun the poorest department in France, this bonus is attractive but insufficient, say officials.
“I want civil servants and agents to come and have a career in Seine-Saint-Denis tomorrow,” Prime Minister Jean Castex had launched during a trip to the Ile-de-France department at the end of September to mark the two years of the plan “A strong state in Seine-Saint-Denis “.
One of the flagship measures is the implementation since October 2020 of a loyalty bonus of 10,000 euros for officials and contractors working there for five years.
Education, justice, police, health: Seine-Saint-Denis remains under-resourced compared to other departments. A 2019 parliamentary report highlighted a series of inequalities, in particular because civil servants are fewer and less experienced than elsewhere.
A new attraction
“This bonus creates an attraction”, notes Erwan Guermeur, departmental secretary for SGP Police Unit 93. During the last transfers, “we observe that colleagues from Val-d’Oise or Hauts-de-Seine will choose the Seine -St Denis”.
But, “it is too early to take stock,” warns the trade unionist.
According to the 2019 report, municipalities like Bondy and Stains had less than one police officer per 400 inhabitants, while the 18th arrondissement of Paris, less affected by delinquency, had one police officer per 315 inhabitants.
Overall, “young colleagues choose 93 because that’s where it’s happening,” explains Erwan Guermeur. Except that “the purchasing power is not the same as that of our provincial colleagues and we work in an environment where violence is exacerbated”, then “we must be paid more than elsewhere”, insists the official from police.
Burn-out or 10,000 euros
“We think we are in a store with a loyalty card! Between a burnout and 10,000 euros, the calculations are quickly made,” plague Cyril Papon, clerk at the Bobigny court and secretary general of the CGT of chancelleries and judicial services.
“10,000 euros over five years is 166.66 euros gross per month. What we earn, we lose in cost and quality of life and that’s not counting the workload, with immediate appearances that can end at 2:00 am “, details the clerk.
The system is especially attractive for Ile-de-France residents. “At the end of school, the jurisdiction of Bobigny is chosen last. With this bonus, it will be preferred to Créteil or Versailles”, analyzes Cyril Papon.
But to retain the clerks, it would take “a faster step up”, he said.
For education, the incentive effects of this measure will be visible only in “ten years”, judge Antoine Chaleix, inspector of academy.
The request for movement of teachers in the first degree, carried out in June, for the start of the 2021 school year has certainly fallen by 20%. “We will see if this figure is confirmed for 2022,” he said.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, a student loses an average of one year over his entire schooling because of the difficulty of replacing absent teachers and nearly half of secondary teachers stay in their establishment for less than two years, according to The report.
A “significant effort but not a miracle measure”
Working there is “almost a militant choice”, confides Antoine, professor of visual arts in a college in Blanc-Mesnil, himself “sure” of staying at least five years.
“This bonus is a plus, we are not going to spit on it, but it is not as solid as an increase in salaries”, underlines the 25-year-old teacher whose remuneration amounts to 1950 euros net.
According to him, the teachers are “not sufficiently prepared” to teach in a poor territory “where we do more than teach”: “We are thrown in the bath without knowing how to lead a class, some suffer their class and end up dropping out” .
For the deputy François Cornut-Gentille (LR), co-author of the damning report of 2019, the bonus is a “significant effort but not a miracle measure”.
Struck by “the inequality of which the department is a victim but also by the heaviness of the administration”, the parliamentarian insists: “Seine-Saint-Denis must be made a laboratory for new modes of action by the State in when it comes to police, justice and education, money is not enough “.
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