In view of this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, where the police are fully mobilized, the unions organized a massive day of strike this Thursday.
During the Paris Olympics this summer, the police will be mobilized to ensure security during the event. This Thursday, January 18, a group of police unions which brings together the Alliance and Unsa-Police unions called for a “Black Thursday” to obtain more aid for the police officers mobilized this summer. The unions are demanding in particular “exceptional measures” to compensate for the significant mobilization of the police. If the police do not have the right to strike, the unions encourage them to carry out “minimum service”, that is to say to respond to calls but not to work “on initiative”.
According to a letter from the Ministry of the Interior revealed by AEF, the minister insisted on the need for “100% mobilization” over the period from July 24 to August 11. Outside of this period, gendarmes and police officers will be authorized to take two weeks of leave between June 15 and September 15. The letter also specifies that “leave which cannot be taken due to operational requirements may be postponed to 2025”.
The demands of the police mainly concern obtaining bonuses and childcare assistance. Regarding bonuses, the first steps have already been taken. In his letter addressed to the unions in December 2023, Gérald Darmanin wrote: “I proposed to the Prime Minister, who accepted it, that a bonus could be allocated in 2024”. The unions are demanding bonuses of up to 2,000 euros. The questions also relate to the police schedules. Thierry Clair, deputy secretary general of the Unsa Police, reminds Libération that “six months before the deadline, we do not yet know how they will be designated or if it will be voluntary.”
Regarding childcare, the unions are demanding support in the form of a service employment voucher in order to finance the care. In its letter, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it will look into the question of “access to early childhood care establishments, or stays for children”.