The Return of the S.T.O.?
There is undeniably a decadent and feverish end-of-reign atmosphere currently prevailing on the right, intensified by the outcome of the senatorial elections, which seems conducive to the worst demagogic excesses. After the speech on the value of “Work,” whose sad reality of rising unemployment and precariousness paired with gifts for the wealthiest was all too evident, after the reference to the “Homeland” usurped by debate on “national identity” all the way to the most recent pathetic idea of “allegiance to the flag,” the only thing missing is a nod to “Family” to complete a trilogy of sad memory for our people.
Meanwhile, in order to stay within the same historical framework, the government is now undertaking to resurrect compulsory work by forcing RSA recipients to accept 7-hour weekly contracts under the threat of sanctions that could go as far as removing the allowance. It’s compulsory because, regardless of the match between the job profile and the job seeker’s qualifications, the beneficiary will not be allowed to refuse this latest iteration of a sub-employment contract. As if they were responsible for their situation of exclusion. Experience has shown, however, that the multiplication of “aided” contracts has never provided a lasting solution for returning to employment or for social integration but has greatly contributed to the explosion of precariousness and the overall reduction of wages.
But Eric CIOTTI, Member of Parliament and President of the General Council, does not seem concerned and hastened to apply on behalf of the General Council to experiment with this system.
Indeed, he did not hesitate to quantify RSA fraud at €3.5 million when the latest disclosed estimates are far from this amount.
After turnstiles in middle schools, the return of “reform schools,” the Parental Responsibility Contract whose media promotion faced the well-known setbacks without convincing other departments to implement it, after the unfavorable opinion from the National Assembly’s Defense Commission—led by his political allies—on his proposal for military supervision of juvenile delinquents, Eric CIOTTI remains undaunted and continues to plunge into a demagogic headlong rush, hoping to find a lifeline for the next complicated electoral challenges ahead.
The seriousness of the economic and social problems facing our people certainly deserves political responses of a different caliber, breaking away from the disastrous choices developed in recent years.
Noël ALBIN – Francis TUJAGUE – Jacques VICTOR
Communist General Councillors of the Alpes-Maritimes
