“I still have strength left!” On his arrival in front of the SAMU of the CHU de Poitiers, Thierry Cubury, 56, still finds resources after nearly 150 kilometers of effort from Angoulême to lift his bike. Since Tuesday, he took the road to Paris from his hospital in Toulouse, where he works as an ambulance driver. He will arrive Tuesday, November 30 in the capital, to join the national gathering of his profession in front of the Ministry of Health.
Paramedics claim that their profession is no longer classified among technical and worker personnel, but as caregivers in its own right. “The non-recognition of ambulance staff from the CHUs of France is a shame”, says the trade unionist at SUD. “Due to our training, we are called to be in contact with the patient, to provide first aid … With the status that we have there is a great contrast.”
– Florent Vautier
Thierry Cubury appeals to Olivier Véran the Minister of Health, and wishes to debate with him. “How much money have they saved on our backs over the last 30 years? 10, 15, 20 billion?”. The change from a technical status to a caregiver status would thus allow ambulance attendants to benefit from a more favorable salary grid.
In Poitiers, a dozen ambulance staff from the CHU came to support Thierry Cubury, who leaves this Saturday around 8:30 am, towards Angers. Fabien, an ambulance driver from the SAMU who traveled a few kilometers with his Toulouse colleague, will also be on strike next Tuesday, because “we are not at Chronopost, we are in the hospital, we do not transport parcels but human beings”. There are currently nearly 3,500 public paramedics in France, according to figures from the French Association of Smur ambulance and hospital workers.