The government is to start a consultation on salvaging the health service this afternoon. It will be by videoconference, Coronavirus oblige. The choice of chair does not bode well for anyone hoping for revolutionary action.
Ministers have dubbed the event the “Ségur de la santé”, puzzling at least one reader of Le Monde, who asked its journalists “What is a Ségur?”.
The nickname is a reference to French political folklore. In 1968 De Gaulle’s ministers negotiated with union leaders to end the general strike that brought the country to a halt (sound familiar?). The meeting took place at the Labour Ministry in the rue de Grenelle, so were referred to by that name.
Since then governments who have wanted to give the impression they were launching some momentous initiative in consultation with the little people – the Sarkozy government’s emission of hot air on the environment in 2007, for example – have referred to them as “Grenelles”, regardless of whether they took place in said street or not.
This time round some bright spark has got with the times and named the meeting after the address of the Health Ministry, avenue de Ségur, even though most of the participants will not actually be going there but e-intervening.
The meeting is to be chaired Nicole Notat, not a good sign that anything very radical will come out of it. Notat was leader of the CFDT union confederation from 1992 to 2002 and an enthusiastic practitioner of the strategy of ingratiating itself with employers and governments by undermining more militant action by other unions.
On the other hand, the mood in the hospitals appears to be potentially insurrectional, as Le Monde’s tweet of healthworkers carrying a banner calling for a “general dream” (it’s a play on words with the French word grève for strike) indicates:
« Ségur de la santé » : rémunération, temps de travail, organisation ville-hôpital… A l’exception d’une hausse des effectifs, sur laquelle il n’a pris aucun engagement, le gouvernement a ouvert de nombreux dossiers. https://t.co/na36mnXEja
— Le Monde (@lemondefr) May 25, 2020
Here a doctor accuses the government of torpedoing the negotiations by choosing Notat, failing to invite unions and trying to scrap the 35-hour week in exchange for pay rises:
Comment torpiller les négociations sur l’hôpital ?
— Dr ou Pr. Laurent Thines (@LaurentThines) May 21, 2020
– inviter les collectifs mais pas les syndicats
– marchander augmentation de salaire contre mort des 35h
– mettre à sa tête N Notat (ex-CFDT) qui a validé depuis 1995 la destruction de nos droits sociauxhttps://t.co/kbPnzTgHS6
The consultation starts at 3.30pm today and will last into July.
A slight reversal of the downward curve in hospital admissions took place yesterday. Seven more patients were admitted nationwide. The number in intensive care continues to decline and most experts seem to think a second wave unlikely. This week should be a decisive test of whether that is so.
France’s Covid-19 death toll now officially stands at 28,367, up 35 in 24 hours. 17,185 people are in hospital, up seven, with 1,655 in intensive care, down 10. 64,617 patients have been discharged, 70 yesterday.
This is day 70 of this diary, which you can celebrate as you wish. I am going to stop posting every day but will keep writing regularly, so watch this space (and tell your friends to do so too).
