A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #340 - Wage insubordination 340: Auchan, winegrowers of Épernay, Yara - chronicles of the class struggle (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

FRANCE ---- On the Barat-Sofanor site in Crespin, equipment 
manufacturer, subcontractor of Alstom, around thirty employees - out of 
the company's approximately 70 - stopped work to support two of their 
colleagues subject to dismissals deemed "unfair". For the CGT: "We 
dismantled all these arguments without head or tail in the face of 
management. Nothing justified this dismissal and yet..." Another 
employee would also be targeted by a similar procedure. "We are going to 
go to the industrial tribunal, that's for sure. But what we want above 
all is the reintegration of colleagues.»    The mobilization will 
continue "as long as it takes".

After the announcement of the closure of RDM in Blendecques, Xavier 
Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France Region, requested that a 
round table be set up by the State, with elected officials from the 
territory, management and staff representatives to work on a site 
takeover project. Bertrand Petit, MP, did the same. As did Cathy 
Apourceau-Poly, communist senator from Pas-de-Calais. For the moment, 
this round table has not yet been installed. Activity continued within 
RDM Blendecques, but at a minimum. Since the announcement of the closure 
fell, production has been stopped.

Music and firecrackers as an atmosphere in front of the gates of the 
Millenium in Épernay (Marne). It is here that around thirty people, 
notably wine workers, gathered on the morning of April 11, while the 
annual meeting of the general union of Champagne winegrowers was being 
held in the room. The demonstrators wanted to be heard to denounce the 
excesses of some of their employers and demand higher wages. They 
insisted on their working conditions, particularly during the harvest, 
recalling that last year, four people died in the vineyards. Another 
aspect also noted: accommodation conditions during the harvest.

Winegrowers in Épernay
?Around 70 people in Auxerre responded to the national call launched by 
the CGT on April 4. A movement intended to denounce the working 
conditions of social workers and the lack of resources for child 
protection, particularly in Yonne. ?"Currently, there are ten children 
in Yonne who are the subject of a placement measure, who are in danger 
at home and for whom there is no reception place," laments a manager at 
child protection at the Yonne Departmental Council. She believes that 
the teams are suffering: "the professionals are exhausted and lose the 
sense of what they must do. The meaning of our profession is to protect 
children and families, so when the means are not not there, they have 
the feeling of no longer knowing why they do this job." A figure to 
illustrate the lack of resources in child protection: in ten years, 
Yonne has lost 100 family assistants (going from 350 to 250), last year 
there were only nine recruits.

After more than 40 days of conflict within the Vedettes Tropicales 
company, employees, union, company management and representatives of 
Martinique Transport have finally signed an agreement.
Maritime connections between Fort-de-France, Trois Îlets and Case-Pilote 
were able to resume on the morning of April 8. Employees have received a 
commitment to receive the bonuses claimed since 2016.
"This fight is exemplary for all employees in Martinique," underlined 
the secretary of the CGTM.

The editorial director of the regional daily "La Provence" was laid off 
and summoned for an interview prior to his dismissal on March 22, due to 
an article published the day before on Emmanuel Macron's visit to 
Marseille and the the "XXL net space" operation: this was deemed 
"ambiguous" by the newspaper's management. Emotion within the editorial 
staff: the newspaper's employees voted, by a very large majority, during 
the day, for an indefinite strike, affirming that no ethical misconduct 
had been committed and demanding the immediate reinstatement of the 
editorial director. The La Provence unions also suspect possible 
pressure from the main shareholder, the shipowner CMA CGM Rodolphe 
Saadé, with the front page of Friday 22 also displaying words of apology 
from the publication director.

After the indefinite strike voted by the journalists of La Provence, the 
editorial staff of La Tribune, also owned by the shipowner CMA CGM, in 
turn declared itself in favor of a strike on March 26. The editorial 
staff of La Tribune-La Tribune Dimanche, like that of La Provence, 
adopted a motion of no confidence. The journalists' societies (SDJ) of 
BFMTV and RMC and the SNJ, CGT and SNME-CFDT unions of Altice Media 
denounced, in a joint press release, the "scandalous decisions" taken in 
La Provence and reaffirmed "their unwavering attachment to independence 
of editorial staff of all powers, and editorial freedom". The 
signatories recalled "the commitments to pluralism, independence and 
journalistic ethics" announced by the shareholder CMA CGM. The 
organizations called for a "symbolic gathering" of editorial staff in 
Paris and the regions on the morning of March 25 to defend freedom of 
information. Following this revolt by journalists, the management of the 
regional daily announced the reinstatement of the editorial director and 
his return to duty on Monday 25. Also note that after the crisis at the 
daily La Provence, nearly sixty- ten companies of journalists, media, 
unions and collectives called, in an article published in Le Monde on 
March 26, the Minister of Culture to support the proposed transpartisan 
law aimed at protecting the editorial freedom of the media.

Never before has Auchan faced such mobilization of its employees! March 
29 was the 3rd day of strike since the beginning of March. This social 
conflict, due to the level of mobilization, is unprecedented. This is 
the first time that the movement has been followed by the company's four 
unions (CGT, CFDT, FO and CFTC). Several stores and warehouses in the 
Hauts-de-France region were disrupted. "Almost all stores in the North 
are affected: the hypermarkets of Roncq, Faches-Thumesnil, Dunkerque, 
Calais, Boulogne, Petite-Forêt, Louvroil. And also disrupted warehouses 
like Lesquin or Amiens," declares the CDFT. In the North, strikers 
demonstrated at the Auchan store, the largest in the region, in Roncq. 
Employees wandered through the aisles in front of stunned customers. The 
quarterly bonus went from EUR700 last year to EUR200 this year. 
Remuneration in the form of shareholding has also collapsed: it 
represented up to 1 month's salary a few years ago, but this is not the 
case. is more than 17EUR The employees also severely criticize the 
direction of management, the strategic choices in particular the massive 
investment in automatic checkouts described as sieves: thefts are more 
numerous than before, this would represent more than a million. euros 
since the start of the year in this hypermarket.

Greve Auchan in Noyelles
The mobilization was well attended in Pérols in Hérault where the 
customers were rather receptive to the employees' demands. In Tours 
Nord, there were around a hundred strikers. The obligatory annual 
negotiation on salaries did not satisfy the unions. Management, in a 
press release, specifies that it has proposed a 1.5% increase for 
employees and +1.2% for executives. The unions are demanding a 5% 
increase this year: "We are asking that poor employees not be even 
poorer in 2024 when we know that the wealth of the Mulliez family was 
created by Auchan employees. ". If they are not heard, the unions do not 
exclude "a stronger act 4". Another very controversial point is the 
future working time agreement proposed by management. An agreement which 
would provide, among other things, for forcing employees to work certain 
weekends, Sunday mornings and public holidays according to the unions.

A barbecue to put the pressure on! While around 350 Veuve Clicquot 
employees have been on strike for five weeks, new action took place on 
March 28 in front of the champagne house's headquarters in Reims. The 
unions want to maintain pressure on management to obtain a salary 
increase of 4.9%. The inter-union called, on this occasion, all the 
champagne houses to support them.?"17 million net profit at Veuve 
Clicquot in 2023. We are not asking for much but we are asking for our 
due, that is to say 200 euros per year to keep up with inflation," 
explains the CGT delegate .

It is the continuation of a fight that began several years ago but 
undoubtedly not the end. 200 former sailors from the cross-Channel 
company SeaFrance have just received a sum of 5,000 euros on average. 
During the last wave of layoffs in 2012, they did not receive all of 
their compensation. The SNCF, owner of the Calais company, ended up 
paying them but several years late. It is this delay which has now been 
compensated, to the tune of one million euros. "12 years is too long, 
some may have died today," laments a former employee. The SeaFrance case 
has not yet been closed because another legal procedure is underway. 
This time, it involves obtaining compensation for 60 former employees, 
notably officers, for an amount of 2.5 million euros,

Around fifty demonstrators came on April 12 in front of the departmental 
council in Avignon, to protest against the closure of the Vaucluse 
departmental analysis laboratory. This is responsible for health checks 
in school canteens, livestock farms and the food industry. The 
departmental council announced to employees and service providers that 
it wanted to close this laboratory in September 2024, promising the 
laboratory's territorial agents reclassification. Faced with this 
announced closure, leaving 25 employees in the lurch, the CGT is 
stepping up to the plate and criticizing the President of the 
department. But the union is not alone: it is joined by the 
Confédération Paysanne. The agricultural union criticizes the loss of a 
local service for breeders. "We have compulsory controls, whether for 
eggs or for those who raise cattle, goats, etc. We were told to turn to 
private laboratories, but they are far away, it will cost more, not to 
mention the shipping costs to send the analyses..."The departmental 
analysis laboratory is also used to assess animal remains to check for 
the presence of disease on farms. "We're not going to go to Marseille 
with a dead animal in the car either," adds a breeder, "everyone loses."

Pallets, two large banners and leaflets: employees of Brico Privé 
mobilized again on April 10 to protest against the 174 layoffs announced 
in this company specializing in the online sale of DIY materials created 
in 2012 in Toulouse. Entrances and exits of trucks were blocked at the 
warehouse located in Castelnau-d'Estrétefonds before a new Social and 
Economic Committee (CSE) which is to be held to discuss the job 
protection plan, just four years later the takeover of the brand by the 
Mousquetaires group. The hypothesis of a possible buyer makes the 
situation even more confusing for Brico Privé employees. They don't 
believe it and are preparing for a layoff scheduled for next July in the 
middle of summer. The priority for CSE representatives and employees is 
therefore to negotiate the conditions and severance pay. With a minimum 
objective: obtaining 12 months of reclassification leave. "We just want 
to leave with dignity," explains an employee, for 8 years at Brico 
Privé, who experienced the heyday of the Toulouse company when it was 
elected start-up of the year...

YARA Montoir de Bretagne

After years of underinvestment, regular formal notices for non-standard 
discharges in the Loire and in the air (without ever meeting standards), 
breakdowns, and strikes to denounce increasingly working conditions. 
more dangerous due to the non-compliance of obsolete installations, the 
Norwegian multinational Yara announced, at the beginning of November 
2023, the closure of its fertilizer manufacturing plant in 
Montoir-de-Bretagne to make it a simple logistics storage point chemical 
fertilizers... with the "economic" dismissal of 139 employees out of 
171. The employees proposed a plan B on March 15 to the site management. 
The unions worked with experts from Secafi to develop an alternative 
plan with the dual advantage of maintaining jobs and manufacturing less 
polluting fertilizers. This plan actually involves some investments to 
bring it up to standard and rehabilitate the factory to make it an 
"exemplary" site in terms of safety and compliance with environmental 
standards. Concretely, the employees had the idea of taking up all the 
major unfulfilled promises of the industrialist: securing the control 
room, installing filters to treat the nitrate dust from the prilling 
tower (which was done in the Ravenna factory in Italy assures a CGT 
delegate) and finally develop a microalgae factory, algae responsible 
for "eating" the pollutants emitted by the factory. These algae would in 
turn become fertilizers. The plan is estimated at 80 million euros. "As 
much, if not less, than the dismantling of the production plant and the 
creation of a huge storage area. Even management agrees with our 
figures" adds the CFDT delegate. Despite this, management refused. And 
then, a twist: at the end of March, a power outage on thWhy did the 
generator at the fertilizer manufacturing plant not work as it should 
have?... The ammonia tanks increased pressure on March 29. Without the 
employees still on site and the firefighters, it was a guaranteed 
disaster. The Office of Investigation and Analysis was contacted and on 
April 11, the site monitoring commission met exceptionally at the 
Montoir town hall. For the first time, the risk of explosion was clearly 
expressed. Even if the factory must close, the sub-prefect of 
Saint-Nazaire announced that a new financial penalty of 360,000 euros 
would be imposed, as well as a new prefectural decree for Yara to empty 
its ammonia tanks in accordance with the rules. , so that the 
industrialist also meets safety standards. He also confided that the 
Minister of Industry was seriously studying the issue. What if employees 
took back control of the factories?

In Greece, employees of telephone platforms are mobilizing against their 
precariousness. On March 13, employees of the four major telephone 
platforms in Greece (Teleperformance, Webhelp, TTEC and Foundever) were 
called for the third time since February to mobilize to demand salary 
increases, the reintroduction of collective agreements (suppressed in 
Greece during the financial crisis of 2010-2018) and a generalization of 
permanent contracts while the rule in these companies is the 
multiplication of fixed-term contracts.
The increase in salaries, which have been unchanged since 2010 when 
Greece was hit by austerity measures imposed by the country's creditors 
(European Union, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund), is 
more than necessary. The average salary in the company is around 850 
euros net, and 30% of employees receive 780 euros. In 2022, inflation in 
Greece reached almost 10%    and was still at 3.7% in December 2023.
Teleperformance has continued to grow in Greece. In 2018, it had around 
7,000 employees. It is now the fourth largest employer in Greece with 
more than 12,000 employees, 45% of whom come from abroad. The company 
has been recruiting in recent years in the Maghreb countries for the 
French and Arabic sections. After hiring candidates who have taken 
remote tests, the company takes care of everything and issues new 
recruits a special visa allowing them to work only in call centers. 
North African workers often find themselves held hostage, as they cannot 
leave to find work elsewhere for fear of losing their papers to remain 
legally in Greece.
Between 2022 and 2024, the monthly minimum wage in Greece increased from 
713 euros gross to 780 euros. But, to prevent the salary from increasing 
too much, the company is increasing the base salary, as required by law, 
while reducing the part of our remuneration linked to mastery of foreign 
languages.

GERMANY

The time of rail strikes is coming to an end across the Rhine. The 
German railway company Deutsche Bahn and the train drivers' union have 
reached an agreement on their salary negotiations, the GDL union 
announced on Monday March 25.?Since November 2023, German drivers have 
been on strike for several days in a row. In addition to salary 
increases, the GDL union demanded a working week reduced to 35 hours for 
workers working staggered hours, without a reduction in income. One of 
the latest offers from Deutsche Bahn included up to a 13% salary 
increase, as well as the possibility of reducing the working week to 37 
hours from 2026.

Unless otherwise indicated, sources: Voix du Nord, France Bleu, Le 
Monde.e classified "Seveso" site could have had serious consequences!

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