Nîmes local mission: a job protection plan plans to eliminate 17 positions

En septembre, les salariés avaient manifesté devant l'Hôtel de Ville. MIDI LIBRE – ADRIEN BOUDET

Un chiffre trop élevé pour les représentants du personnel de cette structure dont le déficit global cumulé a atteint 1,274 M€.

17 job cuts at the local mission in Nîmes Métropole. This is what is provided for in the employment protection plan which fell at the start of the week, following a long cycle of meetings: board of directors last Thursday, CSE Friday, full employee meeting this Monday, before a first meeting with staff representatives this Tuesday.

This measure comes within the framework of the "recovery plan" put in place following the "discovery", in June 2023, of a forecast deficit of 718,000 euros, and an overall cumulative deficit quantified, according to management of the MLJ, at 1.274 M€.

Exceptional safeguard fund of 1.05 M€

At the end of the summer, the City of Nîmes made known the extent of the deficit and the dismissal of the director of the structure David Kugler (1). She also announced the resignation of President Thiphaine Leblond. The latter was replaced in September by Frédéric Dumont Escojido, who implemented a number of urgent measures. A meeting of financiers (State, City, Nîmes metropolis and Occitanie Region) first made it possible to constitute an exceptional safeguard fund of 1.05 M€ "allowing us to absorb the forecast deficit for 2023".

Operational savings measures, non-renewal of fixed-term contracts and financial audits have, in the meantime, been carried out. "We solved part of the problem. But to adjust the structural balance of the local mission, it was necessary to act on the staff workload. Otherwise we would inevitably find ourselves in the same situation within a few months,” defends Frédéric Dumont-Escojido.

The plan presented to employees as well as to the social partners and to the board of directors therefore provides for the elimination of "17 workstations", for a current workforce of 88 time equivalents full to date.

"This plan calls into question the continuity of public service"

A figure deemed unacceptable by staff representatives, meeting this Tuesday. "First, we do not consider the presentation that was made sufficient, which would justify a plan of such magnitude. We are not presented with a clear economic picture. Then, the number of departures announced is so large that it seriously calls into question the continuity of the public service, estimates a representative of the unionized staff at the CNT, one of the three members of the ;#39;inter-union (with CGT and Solidarity South). Which highlights the psychosocial risks, which are extremely high in this delicate period. He adds that this situation cannot be attributed to the employees but to the managers of the structure.

Friday, a first negotiation meeting must take place. "Either there will be a unilateral position of governance and the State will have to validate the PSE or not. If he does not do so,  there will no longer be a local mission, warns Frédéric Dumont-Escojido. The president of the local mission hopes to be able to complete the plan during the summer.

(1) The new director, Melynda Maufroid, arrived on February 1, from the local Mission of Montpellier, where she was deputy director.

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