After the 2017 legislative elections, some 1.300 employees were dismissed in the wake of the landing of LREM troops. This year, the wave of renewal should however be less important if the presidential majority is confirmed.
"We know the rules of the game. But it's never easy, it's always a story that ends," said one of them to AFP.
At the service of the 577 deputies, they are a total of 2.000 employees, 40% of whom work at the Palais Bourbon and 60% in the constituency. Nine out of ten are on permanent contracts: if their deputy does not stand for re-election or is beaten, they are fired; if their MP is re-elected, they are automatically reappointed.
Often "Swiss Army knives", these assistants carry out various tasks, secretarial, drafting of amendments, communication... and are not necessarily on the same political side as their deputy, even if this is often the case.
They are employed by each elected official, who recruits, sets working conditions and salary, out of a monthly envelope of 10.581 euros allocated by the Assembly, which makes it possible to employ one to five-six people.
The case of the fictitious employment of the wife of François Fillon had brought them cruelly to light in 2017. "The image of the one who is waiting for his check has remained, rather than that of collaborators very invested for the most part", deplores one of those little hands.
The prohibition for parliamentarians to employ members of their immediate family was voted in stride.
After this episode, a new spotlight on the working conditions of employees: situations of harassment were more strongly denounced under the term of office which is ending.
Night work, promiscuity, power relations... Faced with these favorable conditions, the National Assembly strengthened its system in February 2020, with the creation of an anti-harassment, multidisciplinary and independent unit.
In 2021, 24 people - mostly employees - seized this cell, mainly for moral harassment. And justice was seized for a case of sexual harassment.
"Mercenarization"
Sometimes in connection, the turnover has increased sharply. Some 5.875 contracts were concluded between mid-2017 and the end of 2021, of which 3.950 were terminated (43% for the end of CDD), according to the latest known figures.
The average fixed-term contract is three months, a sign of a "mercenization" of employees, hired for a well-defined task at a key moment, underlines an old hand.
Le Canard Enchaîné has established a list of the 20 most "consumer" deputies, led by Laurence Maillart-Méhaignerie (LREM), outgoing president of the Sustainable Development Committee, who used 29 assistants.
“There were a lot of failures. The deputies of the majority were often inexperienced, and recruited inexperienced collaborators too. Many chose badly,” laments one of those who had to change bosses along the way.
The elected officials had surrounded themselves with new profiles, such as ex-militants from their campaign, or even their alternates – a practice not prohibited – for 87 of them.
"I tell the youngest not to make it their job for life. It's very demanding, very hard. We spend a lot of time making another's career, not our own", reports Brayen Sooranna (CFDT collaborators ), whose MP is not running again and who, at 37, does not yet know if he will continue.
Beneficial effect of the Fillon affair: progress has been confirmed, with in particular agreements in 2018 on a "job sheet" and in 2021 on the recognition of seniority, concluded with the Association of Employer Deputies. "We are neither drivers, nor babysitters or cleaning ladies", still claim the collaborators.
"The professionalization effort could not bear fruit because of the high turnover", regrets Astrid Ribardière (Unsa-USCP). On the menu for the next term, always: the demand for a real status, "with applicable rights", and no longer "precariousness and opacity", claim the unions.