After Gérald Darmanin’s appeal, the 15 days of annual secondment will be increased in many companies such as Carrefour, Orange or EDF.
Carrefour, Orange, EDF and GRDF have taken measures to facilitate the release of their volunteer firefighters, responding to Gérald Darmanin’s call on Wednesday, in order to strengthen the system for fighting exceptional summer fires.
As of Wednesday, the CEO of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard had called on Twitter “each store and warehouse manager» from the group to «release our colleagues who can go as reinforcements from their professional obligations. In the Brive-la-Gaillarde hypermarket, two of our firefighter employees have decided to mobilize: a sales consultant, who is leaving today until Sunday, and a drive-thru employee who will be leaving next week.“, Detailed Friday the group to AFP.
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Exceptional secondment days
The number of days during which volunteer firefighters can be free in the event of an emergency is set by each company through an agreement signed with the departmental fire and rescue service. Orange, GRDF and EDF usually set the ceiling of secondment days at 15 per year during which volunteer firefighter employees can free themselves. Carrefour, for its part, plans ten working days under agreement, which will be uncapped in view of the situation.exceptional“. Orange HRD Gervais Pellissier also tweeted that, “in addition to the fifteen days of leave of absence dedicated to their commitment, additional days will be granted».
In total, some 135 group employees are volunteer firefighters, distributedeverywhere in France» et «more in rural areas than in urban areas“, said a spokesman to AFP. “Faced with the seriousness of the fires and their exceptional intensity“, EDF announced Thursday evening in a press release to have”took the decision to release all of the volunteer firefighters from EDF and Enedis, who are not essential for the production and continuity of the supply of electricity».
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On the GRDF side, the management had already granted 5 additional days in July to allow its 140 volunteer firefighters to free themselves. “At the request of Minister Gérald Darmanin, in August, GRDF authorizes employees to be released, to have managerial agreement and without limit“, explained the group to AFP on Friday, indicating that the employees deployed on the fires will continue to receive their wages.
On the employers’ side, François Asselin, president of the CPME, salutes “this organized solidarity that has existed for a very long time“However, emphasizing to AFP that”the smaller the company, the more complicated it can be. For a restaurateur who frees up his chef, it is almost equivalent to lowering the curtain“, according to him.
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