In Nice, several hundred healthcare professionals will be on strike this Wednesday, December 3, 2025. The movement, part of a national mobilization, will lead to the closure of clinics and significant pressure on the emergency services of the University Hospital Center (CHU). Healthcare workers are protesting the proposed social security budget for 2026 and announcing large-scale action.
Nice is preparing to experience a day of tension in the health sector. This Wednesday, December 3, doctors, nurses, freelance physiotherapists, hospital practitioners, and healthcare workers in private clinics will join a national movement launched by the Southeastern Medical Collective. They will advocate for their working conditions and express their opposition to several articles of the proposed Social Security finance bill for 2026.
The mobilization will follow the one led by the interunion on that day. However, the movement planned for Wednesday will be broader and will include all medical and paramedical professions. Organizers announce several hundred participants from the Alpes-Maritimes region.
The CHU of Nice anticipates significant pressure on its services. The teams foresee degraded activity in emergency services, where some staff will be absent. The institution expects a challenging day. The reduction in available personnel could lengthen patient care times, as the winter activity level is already high.
In medical offices, disruptions will also be significant. A large portion of them will remain closed for the day. Patients have received automatic messages through usual systems like Doctolib. Some have received this notification: “we would like to inform you that the establishment will be closed on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.” Professionals remind that for any life-threatening emergency, you should call 15.
Degradation of working conditions, stagnant wages…
In Nice, the main gathering will take place at Place Garibaldi. Healthcare workers will meet at 12 PM for speeches. A white march will then be organized between 1 PM and 2 PM. The procession will pass through the Coulée Verte before reaching the Rauba Capeu quay. Organizers are already announcing at least 500 participants.
In a statement, the Southeastern Medical Collective describes the reasons for the mobilization. The text states: “Healthcare workers denounce a mindset where health is managed like a simple Excel spreadsheet, to the detriment of quality, timeliness, and continuity of care.” The authors explain they will strike against “systematic attacks” on their practice. They demand the removal of several articles from the PLFSS. The statement also notes that doctors will support the demands of other professionals, “as well as all healthcare workers whose working conditions and incomes are being undermined while they ensure the continuity of care daily.”
The open letter addressed to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Health Minister Stéphanie Rist summarizes the strikers’ mindset: “On December 3, we will be on strike. Not out of corporatism, nor out of a taste for confrontation, but because we have no choice.” The signatories describe a profession exercised under increasingly constrained conditions, with heavy workload, on-call duties, and repeated investments. They assert that the profession will be weakened and decry a climate of mistrust: “yet, never have we been so stigmatized, suspected, attacked.”
The demands focus particularly on Article 24 of the PLFSS. The text specifies: “we refuse a system where the CNAM or the ministry could unilaterally decide, each year, tariff reductions based on algorithms and Excel spreadsheets.” Healthcare workers also demand the removal of Article 26, considered punitive for extra fees. They warn about tariff reductions in technical specialties, which could undermine practices and threaten jobs.
The letter also mentions trust between the profession and the authorities. The authors criticize imposed changes to the OPTAM contracts. “You have broken the trust of an entire profession.” Administrative pressure is another point of concern, with penalties related to shared medical records or work stoppages.
The Collective assures they do not wish to paralyze the country. However, they announce that stricter actions will be considered in the absence of a government response. The letter concludes: “because defending healthcare workers today is protecting your health tomorrow.”
In Nice, Wednesday’s day will mark an important step in a mobilization that could extend over time. Disruptions will be noticeable in both hospitals and private practices. Healthcare workers hope that this strike will pave the way for a broader dialogue on the future of the healthcare system and the conditions in which they will practice in the future.
