Will the inhabitants of Bordeaux Métropole have water on January 1, 2023? Do not panic, “we will be ready” assures Sylvie Cassou-Schotte, the EELV vice-president of the community in charge of water and sanitation, while the subject of the transfer of water management, Suez towards a public company, fueled heated debates during the last council of Bordeaux Métropole between the majority and the right-wing opposition. For the latter, the community has fallen behind, and it would be more reasonable to adopt an additional delay.
“We are required to succeed on January 1, 2023, and we have done everything necessary to be ready” insists Sylvie Cassou-Schotte. The elected official admits, however, that this passage of witnesses between Suez, a private company which has been managing the water of Bordeaux Métropole for thirty years, and the public management which is in the process of being created, “is not simple”. “We did not have all the necessary information in due time,” she slips, admitting that “some public contracts will not be awarded by January 1, which will however have no impact on the schedule. “An inter-union Suez Eau Nouvelle-Aquitaine evokes, “a hundred public contracts out of 300 to be passed before the end of December. »
No agreement on the number of employees to transfer
The decision to put water management under management was taken by the new majority of Bordeaux Métropole on December 18, 2020, when it had been managed by the private sector for more than thirty years, in this case Suez. This is not an easy task, since the law obliges the metropolis to take over around 300 employees from Suez, and the contract covers water for 25 municipalities, or around 780,000 inhabitants.
The number of employees to be taken over is a stumbling block between the unions and the community. “The management of the Régie l’Eau Bordeaux Métropole announces 268 transferable Suez employees, Suez announces 295, so there would be 27 colleagues on the floor? ask the unions. “We actually don’t agree, concedes Sylvie Cassou-Schotte. It turns out that we noticed that Suez agents had nothing to do within the future management, in particular agents who are on long illness, or others who only work for the Bordeaux Métropole sector 5 or 10%, and who are employed on something else the rest of their time. We therefore refuse the transfer of up to 295 people, because we will only integrate agents who work more than 50% of their time for Bordeaux Métropole. »
Regarding the harmonization of working conditions, “there will be a single employment framework” for the 450 agents of the future management. “Four major themes (mutual insurance, pensions, retirement, employee savings) linked to the constitution of the future employment framework of the management are still not finished” worries for its part the inter-union.
Reduce the rate of leaks on the network
The metropolis promises that consumers will find their way around with public water management. “But we have never committed to a reduction in the price of water for all customers” immediately warns Sylvie Cassou-Schotte, knowing that the surge in energy costs could see the electricity bill of the board to double next year. “On the other hand, we will not increase the price in 2023, in view of inflation at 6%, this is equivalent to a reduction. »
If there will not be a reduction for everyone, the metropolis had nevertheless undertaken to “review the pricing policy. “This means that we want to put in place a social and environmental pricing policy, deciphers the elected official, and we will effectively differentiate between essential water and comfort water. The community also undertakes to “double the current amount of investment to improve the network. The objective is in particular to reduce the rate of leaks, estimated at 15%.