France’s 320,000 homecare workers will be granted COVID-19 bonuses under a €160 million package unveiled by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.
“These men and women were the forgotten ones of the Covid bonus”, Macron said in the southern city of Toulon on Tuesday, referring to bonuses previously awarded to healthcare workers on the front line of the pandemic.
Speaking before an audience of homecare workers, the president said the sum would allow those professionals “to have the €1,000 bonus that the others received”.
Macron said the French state would put up €80 million and local governments the other half of the package.
The announcement comes two months after the government issued decrees enacting exceptional bonuses of €1,000 to €1,500 for hospital staff and nursing home workers.
Last month, unions signed up to a deal giving over €8 billion in pay rises for health workers, with the government admitting the move was overdue in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
The bulk of the package comprises €7.5 billion in pay increases for nurses and careworkers, who will get an average monthly raise of €183.
There is also €450 million for doctors, intended to bolster wages for those working solely in the public sector. The move is aimed at luring doctors from more lucrative private clinics.
But some unions, including the hardline CGT, refrained from signing the accords, an indication that tensions over the issue may not yet be resolved.
Source:Â france24.com