Rising for many months, the price of diesel passed the symbolic cap of €2 this weekend. If it fell significantly on Monday, it remains high. The government has announced a discount of 15 cents on all fuels from April 1, in an attempt to limit the loss of purchasing power of the French. Some professionals are particularly worried.
A full tank of more than 80 euros each week
Cindy, 40, is a home care assistant at ASSAD-HAD. In her black Mégane, she travels 60 kilometers every day to visit around ten elderly people whom she takes care of. She works in rural areas, around Reugny, in the North-East of Indre-et-Loire. She can’t take it anymore, to see the price increase at the pump: “We take our car every day, and we fill it up every week. A full tank for me is 80 euros or more. It is enormous.“
The 15 cents that the government announced to us is nothing at all
The same mileage allowance for 14 years
She is compensated 35 cents for each kilometer travelled. This allowance, fixed by the National Collective Agreement for the branch of assistance, support, care and home services, has not changed since…2008. “I’ve been doing this job for 14 years, and I think it’s always been that way“, calculates Cindy. At the time, a liter of diesel was worth between €1.30 and €1.45.
She is paid the SMIC, and amputates on her “personal pleasures” to compensate. She would like her profession to be better recognized. “We keep people at home thanks to us, with our personal cars.“
The problem is that at some point, if this continues, we will no longer be able to go to work, because the price of fuel will perhaps be 3€.
A brake on recruitment in a sector in tension
For Pascal Oreal, director of the association, this compensation of 35 cents is not so low. “It is higher than the mileage reimbursement in the administration. Furthermore, we see that the cost price of a car, all inclusive (purchase, insurance, maintenance) is fairly stable for the company, around 22 cents.“
He is still considering finding a financial solution for his employees, if fuel prices remain so high. “We are going to approach our pricing authorities, the department for social matters, to study with them the possibilities available to us, if this situation were to persist.“
– Juliette Geay
Laure Blanc, president of the Departmental Federation of ADMR (home help in rural areas) considers that this mileage allowance must be increased as soon as possible. “This is an additional obstacle to recruitment, which is already very complicated in our sector.“
Today we would like an increase of these 35 cents, which is relatively significant. It is urgent if we want to continue recruiting.
She did the math. “7 liters per 100, €2 per liter (diesel). Gasoline has a weight of 14 cents out of the 35 compensated. That leaves 20 cents for repairs, maintenance, insurance. It’s really too little.“