Anger rumbles between the shelves of the Francophone Multimedia Library in Limoges. The employees are called to strike this Saturday, as well as to new walkouts on April 2, 9 and 7, to demand “a clarification of the municipal cultural policy and the opening of discussions on the missions of the BFM and the means dedicated to the realization of this cultural policy” according to the terms of the notice filed by an inter-union composed of the CGT, Inter 87 FSU and FO Territorial. The unions denounce cuts in budgets and staff. According to them, the situation no longer allows the missions of the city’s media library network to be fully carried out.
An operating budget reduced by 66% since 2014 – Intersyndicale CGT, Inter 87 FSU, FO
The figures put forward by the inter-union are dizzying: “- 66% for the operating budget, which has gone from 1,069,000 euros in 2014 to 419,000 euros today” says Hugues Mathieu, CGT General Secretary of the City of Limoges. The acquisition budget, to buy new works, would also have fallen by 18% and the credits for animations would have passed “from 100,000 to 10,000 euros in one year.”
The first consequence, according to the unions, is that the staff has also melted away, with about fifteen job cuts since 2019 and they fear others by the end of the year, in particular via non-replaced retirements. For Karine Mercier, Secretary of the Inter 87 FSU union at the City of Limoges, this creates an overload of work for the 121 remaining employees, who have at the same time adapted to an extension of opening hours in exchange for which the budgets and numbers had to remain constant.
Sick leave due to overwork
“We’ve been alerting to the situation for several years now, warning people and it’s cracking more and more. Insofar as we don’t put money into replacing staff, they no longer hold up, are tired and worried.” An overload and an atmosphere that generates sick leave, not necessarily replaced either, insists the inter-union. Every week, an average of 30 people would be missing to properly run the media libraries of the BFM network in Limoges.
Access to culture for all at risk
Faced with this untenable equation, several animations or services are already abandoned, to the detriment of the population. Hugues Mathieu denounces a decline in access to culture for all, but also in the influence of the BFM in Limoges. An analysis shared by Karine Mercier, who regrets that these choices are also the responsibility of the staff, forced to decide what should be maintained or sacrificed. For the unions it is an additional pressure and a heartbreak.
After an open letter sent to the mayor of Limoges and transmitted to all the elected officials of the municipal council and the referral to the CHSCT, it is therefore time for a strike. For its part, the town hall indicates that it does not wish to make comments in the press and that it favors dialogue within the representative bodies of the staff.