French public-sector workers are on strike Tuesday, Sept. 29, as unions seek higher pay and press the government two days before it presents the 2027 budget. The executive is considering another freeze of the index point used to calculate civil servants’ basic salaries.
Discontent is visible in schools. At one preschool in Hauts-de-Seine, all 12 teachers are on strike. One teacher with 22 years of service earns 2,436 euros a month, only slightly more than a colleague with three years’ experience, whose monthly pay is 2,200 euros. Teachers say the dispute is about both pay and a lack of recognition from management.
Pay stagnation is especially pronounced for teachers in the middle of their careers, whose salaries have lagged for years and fallen furthest behind the European average. Unions oppose the proposed 2027 freeze, which would extend a policy already in place for three years. One teacher said a raise would ease personal financial anxiety as the month progresses.
Civil servants’ base pay is determined through a salary scale that takes account of job category, grade and seniority step. These factors set the number of index points, which is multiplied by a point value set by the state. Additional allowances may cover residence in high-cost areas, dependent children, overtime or on-call duties. In general, employees can increase their pay by moving up a grade or step, or by waiting for the index-point value to be raised.
The index point was also frozen from 2010 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2022. The latest increase, effective July 1, 2023, was 1.5%, while inflation exceeded 5% in both 2022 and 2023. There has been no general pay adjustment since then, leaving public employees across categories with reduced purchasing power.