WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, OCL CA #332 - Interview with bakery workers, part one (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 "It makes us laugh when people talk to us about great French gastronomy"

---- We met M. and C., worker and worker in an artisanal bakery. These
meetings gave rise to three interviews on the bakery of today, from the
point of view of its workers. In the first part of this series, M. tells
us about the way in which work is organised, the risks and resistances,
the relationships between colleagues, using the method of a workers'
survey. In the next issues of Courant Alternatif, we will discuss
vocational training and hazing, the particular situation of women and
immigrants in the production and struggles of the bakery.
What is the club where you work?
The box specializes in organic and wood-fired ovens. We are 8 employees.
It is an SAS, so we have several shareholders. Three bakers, a pastry
chef, three delivery men, and the manager. We deliver to schools,
organic shops, AMAP.

How is your working day going?

I get up at about 1:45 a.m., and I arrive quickly enough for 2:40 a.m.,
cigarette time. I open the gate, which is extremely heavy, I remove the
alarms, I change into safety shoes and everything, I wash my hands (in a
women's locker room, that of a nearby partner store; before I changed
into the one of the boss). At that time, I am in front of the clock, it
is 2:50.

First thing, knead the ingredients weighed the day before. While it
turns, I divide the petrissées already made the day before. When it's
over, I start heating the wood oven. You have to stop every 15 minutes
to add logs to the oven. There I have a few minutes of latency to take
the pastries out of the freezer (and the brioches that we have divided),
and I put them in the proofing chamber, where they will swell. I also
prepare delivery bags by writing names and quantities. There is a little
time left while the dough rests, I prepare the weigh-ins for the next day.

There I "unload" the pasta that has just been kneaded (I give the pasta
a spin in the trays, it gives it strength), which weighs from 12 to 50
kg (the heaviest are on a tripod). When it's too heavy, I divide it in
half. Then I start to shape a part, the pasta that was made the day
before first. We don't have a moulder so I do everything by hand. If I
have time left, I refresh the sourdough for the next day. I send the
sandwich loaves to be cooked, then the quiches, the pizzas... I move on
to dividing the kneaded dough the same day. I load the wheelbarrow with
wood for the oven, outside without light: the lamp post is not
activated. We're not worth it! And that while the stock of wood
protrudes above my head in the wheelbarrow. Then I go to the oven. As
soon as everything is in the oven, I move on to shaping the dough of the
day, and it's back and forth between the oven and the dough. In all this
shit, I put the buns in the electric oven. Luckily we have the timers,
because sometimes I forget them. When I do that, I tell myself that my
day is well advanced. It's 7:15 a.m.

I start bagging (putting the loaves in the bags prepared earlier),
depending on the customer's request. When my oven is empty, I pass the
broom inside, then I prepare a wood heater. I cook the pastries using
electric. I prepare the sandwich loaves for the next day. This is when
the delivery takes place, it is mainly school canteens. I take my break,
I smoke a cigarette on a bag of flour, which is prohibited. The bag of
flour is practical, you can take a nap on it. There is no break room,
nor a chair outside anyway. Even my non-smoking college doesn't have a
chair. My break does not generally exceed 10 minutes.

At 8:45 am, I do the second cooking. I launch the kneaded for the next
day, which we put in the fridge. And then cleaning means scouring the
tables, the kneaders, dusting off the flour that gets everywhere,
washing it up, and then sweeping it up. The loaves gradually come out of
the oven. I start cleaning in the lab room, and I wait until the cooking
is finished to do the oven room. When everything is ready in the bags,
second sweep in the oven. I throw out the waste, I put wood in the
wheelbarrow for my evening colleague who arrives at 4 p.m., I badge at
the exit, still in uniform. I finish between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.,
depending on the size of the second oven.

Is it like this every day? Are you alone every time?

In the box where I am, I am alone to do all that on Mondays and
replacements. The rest of the week, it's the same, but an hour later,
and I'm with my manager. My manager is not there every day. The days
when you can be alone are when the production is less than 200 kg
(without taking into account pastries, snacks, etc.). When it is above,
we are two "normally". Where I worked before, I only had one day of
training to work alone.

We divide the tasks. It's easy to do 400 kg, and when one is in the
oven, the other shapes it by taking care of the electric oven... I
sometimes clean up on days when I'm not in production. On certain days,
deliveries of raw materials will be added. Sometimes you have to hurry
(butter in summer...).

What are the times when you can get hurt?

In the bakery, we hold first place for respiratory diseases and ENT
problems, and second place for skin diseases with flour allergy. As soon
as we are on vacation we stop coughing, and when we start again, it
comes back. But the lesions remain. A lot of people end up with heart
problems, from working nights, not being able to sit down, having to
run, the heat. We eat more sweets to stay awake, including bakery
products, which we are given in certain boxes.

The first reported work accident was due to heavy loads (sacks of flour,
logs). Uncovering a mess is a "painful posture", whether you are big or
small. In addition with the kneaders, there is always a risk of having
your arm crushed. But also the divider, which is pressure, and sometimes
it bugs. There is no maintenance on this machine. We never put the face
above, because the lid can go up suddenly: I had a colleague with his
chin torn off.

And then the risk of falls, because flour, it slips, just like milk,
butter... Our shoes are non-stick, but not enough. We often have
irritated eyes (wood particles, flour, neon lights, etc.) and we don't
have protective goggles. A lot of burns, when you put the logs, with the
plates in the oven, with the moulds, especially since the gloves are not
suitable for women's hands: they are always too big for me. Cuts: with
pasta cutters, razor blades (for cutting bread). A lot of bruises,
because you bump into lots of places when you turn around. There are
metal rods sticking out that can rip your clothes off.

We talk a lot about the stress of small bosses, managers, managers, as
if we weren't stressed. Not stressed to work at night when biologically
it's not at all suitable, to take the road at night, to work alone, not
to last until retirement. Having to manage if a machine breaks down and
the delivery still arrives at the same time. Risks of burglary (the
bakery is one of the last small businesses with cash).

Do you have moments to breathe? Sabotage, theft?

We can speed up the pace to organize breaks, prepare things in advance.
Finally it's not a trick, because the rhythm is even more painful.

The only little thing as a benefit in kind is the 320 g of bread per
day. But sometimes there are seeds that disappear, liters of milk...
It's very nutritious. It depends on the cameras.
I have heard of "white cabbage" practices on essential machinery, used
as a means of sabotage. It's a law that says that if we're already there
when the machine fails, the boss has to pay us for the day.

What day do you have for rest? Can you salvage some night work?

I'm lucky to have Saturday and Sunday as days off, it's the first time
I've had a real weekend in the bakery. Do we recover night hours? In a
weekend, no. You get up early, you go to bed early. Or else you have a
blast as soon as you have a party. At 30, I sleep at 9 p.m. It takes a
longer time to get back to normal hours. Where you can really recover is
when you have your three weeks in a row, in the summer. When you have
just one week, you need 3 days to get back on your normal rhythm, and 3
days to get back to work...

What is the salary, bonuses?

Generally we make you start at minimum wage, it's illegal when you have
a CAP or a BP but that's how it is. I have never seen someone who was
paid for his qualification, or he is boosted. There is no wage
negotiation while there is a lack of manpower.

We're supposed to have a salary that changes, but if you don't ask you
won't get. As it is the crisis for the bakery it is even more difficult.
There is a big problem with overtime, which for many is unpaid.

We have a bonus basket. We produce food, but the company has no on-site
catering. It's cheaper for them to pay us the premium basket than to
give us sandwiches. And when it's sandwiches, don't be fussy about quality.

And the end-of-year bonus, which depends on seniority. You have to have
a full year. For me, with a salary of 1,700 last year, my bonus was less
than 700 euros. And that's all. The dirt bonus is at the boss's discretion.

What are co-worker relationships? What are the discussions about? Do you
manage to create a collective?

When I work alone, it's a little hard to talk. But when we are between
young people, it's about films, it's about music, it's about series...
but also about throwing stones at the leaders. Overall we all agree.
The majority does not vote. Those who vote are far-right, with the
discourses that go with it: migration policy, position of women,
religious discourse, "wokism". On my box, five did not vote, one Le Pen
and the other Zemmour. And from some immigrant workers, the discourse on
women is not much better.
It's very hard to create a collective. Even if we agree on a lot of
problems that there are with the management, the solutions are not at
all collective. Many of the workers don't want to get wet and the
managers want to stay in their jobs, so there's a lot of things left
unsaid. We work as a team but we don't think as a team.

Interview by zyg

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article3879
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