Should foreign employees working in catering be regularized? Yes, says starred chef Thierry Marx. The new president of the main employers’ union in the hotel and catering industry, Umih, calls for the regularization of foreign employees in the sector “recognized for their skills”, in an interview with the Sunday newspaper.
This call comes a month after the government unveiled the main lines of its immigration bill which must be studied by parliamentarians in 2023 and provides in particular for the creation of a “job in tension” residence permit, for recruit in sectors with labor shortages. “Our sector, catering, should already be considered to be under recruitment pressure! We have 200,000 unfilled positions and surprisingly they are not on the list to recruit foreign staff. Same thing for the hotel industry (…)”, protests Thierry Marx in the columns of the JDD.
The sector is indeed facing recruitment difficulties increased by the pandemic and the needs will increase further, according to the media starred chef who was very active and listened to by the public authorities during the health crisis. “When you’re looking for pastry chefs or cooks and you can’t find any in France, you have to look elsewhere,” he explains.
The Minister of Industry in favor
“We are asking for a rapid regularization of our foreign employees recognized for their skills and who find themselves immersed in illegality overnight”, abounds Thierry Marx in this interview, insisting on this long-standing request from Umih, a union in the head of which he was elected at the end of October.
“Banco, bravo for this courage to express realities which are sometimes a little denied”, reacted Sunday the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure. “The French integration model has failed,” he added during the program Questions politiques on France Inter/France Télévisions/Le Monde.
When the government says that it is going to “give work permits to young people or less young people who work in shortage occupations”, it is “saying somewhat the same thing”, affirmed Roland Lescure, “it’s a regularization which has an economic and social interest”.
“These are not wide open doors”
Thierry Marx denounces in particular the “administrative delays” or suspensions of residence permits without justification and the fragility of certain small businesses in the face of this uncertainty. “Creating a residence permit for jobs in tension would facilitate the process and secure companies”, he adds, highlighting the rapid increase in skills for employees in the sector but also the dependence of others, such as the construction industry. , to foreign employees.
“To confuse security issues with issues of integrating people who do not commit offenses and who are a vital force for companies does not seem to me to be the right method. You know, in the kitchen, mixing everything does not necessarily make a good dish,” he concludes. “These are not wide open doors (…) Let’s start taking care of those who are there and stop fantasizing about the calls for air because I think we are far from it,” added Mr. Lescure.