“In full inflation, we are stigmatized because we earn 40 or 50 euros an hour”, indignantly spokesman for the National Union of substitute hospital doctors, opposed to the salary cap imposed on temporary doctors from Monday.
“It’s unacceptable, they want to devalue us”, indignant emergency doctor Éric Reboli on Sunday April 2 on franceinfo, while from Monday, the salaries of temporary doctors will be capped at 1,390 euros for 24 hours. The spokesperson for the National Union of Replacement Hospital Physicians (SNMHR) assures that “80% of temporary workers” touch between “40 and 65 euros per hour”, a salary that he judges “decent”. With this cap, the replacement doctors risk, according to him, deserting the hospital: “The French will no longer be treated properly”, he warns. His union estimates that 200 services in France are threatening to close, for lack of doctors.
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franceinfo: Why do you refuse this salary cap?
Eric Reboli: We do not want to be the first profession with a ceiling in France. It is unacceptable. In full inflation, we are stigmatized because we earn 40 or 50 euros per hour.
“They want to devalue us, to be like the holders of the public hospital, with miserable salaries, and to be exploited by the public hospital.”
Éric Reboli, spokesperson for the National Union of Replacement Hospital Physiciansat franceinfo
We want to earn a decent salary, it’s not more complicated than that.
1,390 euros for 24 hours of work, is that a miserable salary?
It corresponds to less than 35 euros per hour. There, I’m on call, I’m attacking my 23rd hour of work right away. I think this salary is reasonable. More than 80% of temporary workers work for between 40 and 65 euros per hour for night shifts, work on weekends and on public holidays. I think it’s decent. We are not mercenaries. The government once released the example of a doctor who earned 6,000 euros in 24 hours and uses it to stigmatize a profession, more than 10,000 employees in France. It is unacceptable.
What do you think will be the consequences for hospitals of this salary cap?
The French will no longer be treated properly from Monday. There will be deaths, suffering. Maternity, cardiology, emergency and geriatric services will close. At least 200 have been identified across the country. Entire departments can already no longer accept patients at night. The regional health agencies lay notes to say that it will be necessary to go through the 15th, in many departments. And there will be a cascading episode: the population will refer to other services, and the caregivers will find themselves overwhelmed. We will end up with panic and expectation.
How to find a solution while respecting budgetary constraints?
We must make the hospital attractive. All doctors’ unions are asking for it. In any business, you have to attract employees, not hit them.