2023-10-19 06:00:39
Laurent kneels, trowel in hand, near the entrance to the cemetery. A widow passes him in amiable silence. He is disappointed: “While my son works in an association for the protection of the Loire, I concrete the spaces between each grave for fear of weeds. This is the mayor’s response to zero phyto, the ban on chemical weedkillers. But where will the rainwater flow? If I had been asked for my opinion, I would have proposed a more eco-friendly solution. » Laurent (his first name has been changed) is a technical intervention agent in rural areas. With four colleagues, he maintains the public road, the cemetery and the green spaces of a town in Loir-et-Cher, which has a little over 4,000 inhabitants, somewhere between Blois and Saint-Laurent-Nouan.
A white van arrives. The reinforcements. On board, Jules and Wilfried (the first names have been changed). The latter, tattooed, shorn, is tense: “You can no longer do an oil change, repair a lawn mower, or strengthen a lock yourself. It’s simple, our mechanical workshop is no longer useful. Everything is outsourced. However, I have the solutions, I know how to do them. Such a waste. »
With a salary of 1,400 euros net despite fifteen years of seniority, Wilfried went to speak to his mayor. “I asked him for a step up. It was “niet”, so I resigned. He didn’t try to hold me back, just said he didn’t understand why I didn’t leave sooner. Here, in a little over two years, half of the municipal staff left. They did an audit but there was no change, no questioning. » In a month, Wilfried will work in a town of similar size, around fifteen kilometers away. “With word of mouth, everyone knows where not to work… This mayor will not replace me anytime soon. »
Prevention posters plastered on a door of the technical service premises of the town of Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt (Loir-et-Cher), October 16, 2023. NICOLAS WIETRICH FOR “THE WORLD”
“Lack of consideration”
This discomfort which springs from a simple discussion is perceptible almost everywhere among the technical agents of small French towns. The origins of their torments are multiple: obsolete vertical management, scrappy economies, a lack of recognition and visibility, and a loss of meaning too.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Public officials lose the meaning of their work, warns a collective
In Saint-Pierre-en-Auge (Calvados), 7,300 inhabitants, there have been around twenty departures of municipal agents in two years and even two suicides among the workforce, including that, in August, of a young worker from the technical services. In a letter addressed to the gendarmerie at the end of August, agents denounced “difficult situations to manage psychologically after the arrival of a new director of services”. The organization was turned upside down, responsibilities removed, pairs broken: “These management methods quickly deteriorated the climate within the services”they added.
You have 74.3% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
#outsourced #solutions