- Fonction Publique, la
- (see also Haut Fonctionnaire)The French civil service. Tenured state employees - all 1.75 million of them, including qualified teachers in the state education system - are called fonctionnaires; non-tenured employees are called "agents de la fonction publique" or "contractuels".. In 2005, state employees represented 22% of the workforce in France, more than in any other large European country. Recruitment, promotion and pension rights are all ordered according to arcane and complex rules, which successive governments have talked of modifying, though to little effect. President Sarkozy has promised major reforms of the French civil service, starting with a slimming down of the number of state employees, largely through the non-replacement of 50% of retiring civil servants. Faced with increasing shortfalls in the pensions budget, public sector pension rights are being slowly brought into line with those in the private sector.Jobs in the public sector have always been much sought after in France, notably on account of the job security of the tenured and other essential posts, and good retirement pension schemes. Tenured fonctionnaires have a job for life, and it is very unusual for a fonctionnaire to lose his job; this sanction is normally only applied in cases of serious professional misconduct. Within France, there is occasional animosity from private-sector workers towardsfonctionnaires, who are sometimes projected by the media as having a sheltered and relaxed working life - notably when there are public sector strikes.
Dictionnaire Français-Anglais. Agriculture Biologique. 2014.