The union, the Confédération générale de la fonction publique (CGFP), asked for trainee civil servants to be paid the same as those who have passed their (final) exams.

Other demands were adapting the tax rates to inflation, a periodic adaptation mechanism on family benefits by taking into account their relative value in relation to the evolution of the median income, and upgrading careers within the context of the reform of the civil service.

Finance minister Pierre Gramegna will present the draft budget to parliament on 11 October, and the trade union which defends the interests of civil servants and employees of the state is trying to pressure the government. Romain Wolff, the national president of the CGFP, said: “it’s enough: the government must show its true colours!”

One of the main claims deals with the salaries of trainee civil servants. During the trainee period of three years, they are paid 80% in the first and second years of the full salary of a civil servant, and in the third 90%. Wolff argued that they work full time instead of being trained and there was consequently no rationale for this inequality in salary.