2023-08-08 21:20:00
DISPATCH — In Marseille, the cleaning agents of the Saint-Charles station as well as those of the metro went on strike to demand payment of their wages. This is the third time since the beginning of the year. They denounce “practices from another time” on the part of their employer, Laser Propreté.
On the ground of the Saint-Charles station, the hurried steps of travelers zigzag between cans, food packaging and various rubbish, scattered by the wind.
“It’s not a pleasure to see the station in this state” because “all that, we will pick it up” in the end, comments for AFP Houria Tahri, employee of the private company Laser Propreté and elected to the CSE of the Solidaires union, in front of banners which read: “Cleaning on strike for non-payment of wages, pay us”. “Many of us have not received a salary”, or partially, for the month of July, she explains.
According to Kamel Djeffel, national secretary of the CAT Cleaning union, it has been several months since the thirty or so Laser Propreté employees working at Saint-Charles station and the approximately 80 others working in the Marseille metro have been receiving salaries reduced by certain bonuses or holidays.
“This is not an ordinary conflict”, adds Mr. Djeffel, referring to previous union mobilizations against the company: “Today, it is a fight where we are asking for an honest boss, where one asks to be paid”.
“We are questioning the practices of Laser Propreté, which we accuse of carrying out a disguised social and economic plan. In a few months, we are approaching the 40 people dismissed without real and serious cause”, he also denounced, referring to “practices from another time” of this company, also in charge of cleaning the tramway and the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille.
Laser Propreté “encourages the oldest employees, with the highest salaries, to take sick leave to pay less social charges” because their “economic and financial situation is alarming”, he detailed, affirming that the he company, guilty of “scheming”, was “on the verge of filing for bankruptcy”.
Mr. Djeffel specified that a complaint was going to be lodged with the public prosecutor against the company.
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