"It makes us laugh when people tell us about great French gastronomy"---- We met M. and C., workers in an artisanal bakery. These meetingsgave rise to three interviews on the bakery today, from the point ofview of its workers. In the previous issue M. detailed the workingconditions in the artisanal bakery. Here, we address, again with M.,discrimination against certain categories of workers, unionism,struggles, and alternatives to "traditional" bakeries. The nextinterview will be devoted to the training of bakers and undocumentedimmigrants. ---- We have the impression that we are making you sweat alot under the pretext that bread is noble...It's French tradition, it's French culture. You have to be ready todefend the work, to be deserving by always doing more. We are told allthe time that we cost too much, when in fact we are not evolving. Iproduce around 500 to 800 euros of turnover in a day, and my dailysalary is 80 euros. Flour, water, salt, it doesn't cost much. We havethe cheapest CAP I believe. The industrial bakery gives us competitionso our bosses will collect every penny (1).In the artisan industry, you are often in a cellar, you carry the bagsof flour by hand, you are at the mercy of the boss, there is no cameraso if something happens you don't have no proof. In the industrialsector you see daylight, there is work inspection, freight elevators,and many machines that simplify work. Many bakers turn to industrial forthese reasons.We often say among bakery workers that others cannot understand us. Withthe night work, the injuries, the pace. We laugh among ourselves that wewon't have a pension. We are so alienated that even when we get hurt westay. Plus when you're a woman if you stop you're "cozy". We're allsingle. It's not a job where you stay. We are so worthless. It's thecattle that we treat like that: no breaks, the neon lights that explodein your eyes for a few cents saved. Their specialty is accusing us oftheft. When something is missing, it's not the production that ismiscalculated or breakage, it's necessarily theft. When you areracialized it is worse. They are accused of being bullies, while mostguys are bullies in the bakery.It makes you laugh when we talk about great French gastronomy. And it'sthe same in the restaurant business.You talk about "racialized". It gives the impression that it's asomewhat fixed identity and a "victim" position. In addition, I findthat we don't really know who is "racialized" and who is not(Portuguese? Polish? West Indian?)...In a bakery, you can be Serbian, Russian, you will also experienceracism: there is a scale of racism. You should look like a Gaul, speakwell, express yourself well. And even if you look like a Gaul and havetrouble expressing yourself, people think you're stupid. With the war inUkraine, there was also racism against the Russians, even though theyare also victims of their regime.Can you tell us more about the discrimination experienced in the bakeryindustry: when you are a woman, when you are a descendant of immigration?First of all, there is the fact that no PPE (Personal ProtectiveEquipment) is suitable for women, except safety shoes which are oursize. Workbenches are not at the right height, many things are too high.On electric ovens in particular, it's complicated to reach the top floorwhen you're little. We often carry more than 25 kg, although for a womanit is not supposed to be more in the Labor Code. I do it every day. Ihad several accidents.There are very few women in bakery production. We are 2%, it climbs withthe re-oriented (adults), but it remains little. Already from the momentyou are hired, you are stigmatized. Making it clear that you are a bakerand not a saleswoman is already a step forward. In the workshops, youoften have photos of pin-ups, or that sort of thing. As it is a physicalprofession it is supposed not to be made for women. I still hear thatwomen are less strong than men even though I've been hired for 2 years,I've proven myself, I have a diploma... You have plenty of time to proveyourself, even after years.There is also a form of sexualization, which accompanies the ambientvirilism. We talk about "putting it in", "loaf", etc., "wanking" to talkabout the sieve. Colleagues who stand behind you when you're in adifficult position... Men who are with you all night, some find thatsuspicious. And if anything happens to you, it's your fault. You choseyour profession so you chose its entire environment.This is from colleagues. Then there are the customers, the deliverypeople, the management...The descendants of immigration are often the least well paid. They dothe most difficult tasks: only washing, only collecting flour, onlycleaning. What destroys the most. As there is this image that Frenchbread is the best in the world, it must be made by French people. I haveseen very few people of color in charge. Even in somewhat boringbakeries, there are insults towards those from sub-Saharan Africa orAsia (especially with covid). From school, I had inquired about people who were taking catering-typeCAPs (bakery, pastry making, chocolate making). And when they told meabout their internship, many women and people from immigrant backgroundscarried out housekeeping tasks and not at all production tasks. Whilesome were so gifted in their field...During the last retirement movement, the CGT energy made electricityfree for certain bakeries. It was in fact solidarity with the smallemployers of the bakery...I have the impression that the CGT Energy was more interested in thebosses than in the employees. We never see unions here. When you'retrained, you don't see them. There is a fucking confusion: they are allagainst big business (Bolloré...), but the small bosses should bepitied. Bakeries are the first small food businesses. There have beenmany closures but in 2022 there have never been so many openings. Wehave the impression that small bosses are not exploiters. They alsoreceived the CICE, and yet where are the hires? What was this money usedfor? The demonstration of bakers in Paris on January 23, 2023 (bosses inreality), it was not in relation to pensions, it was because "we pay toomuch" (2). As soon as they got what they wanted, we didn't see themanymore. They did not fight with us at all against pension reform.Many small bakeries used CICE money to buy new machines to produce more,not to replace old ones. So not for our working conditions. My formerboss, rather than repairing the moulder, bought a whole bin ofsandwiches, which reduced my work space. When I pointed this out to him,I was insulted.As small bosses also produce, they put themselves in the same class asyou. Whereas the oven costs 50,000 euros: not just anyone can start abakery. Most of them are heirs. Many workers fall into the trap ofbecoming friends with various managements. We are in a period wherethere are a lot of people re-orienting themselves in bakeries. I knew anaccountant, a computer scientist. There was a lot of mixing betweensocial classes. If these people had continued they would rather be uppermiddle class. This is the working class, and many of them don't realizeit. They did a CAP that was not too expensive, a bit fashionable,without realizing that they fell in class. But like class it alsodepends on the parents, they will be able to inherit and be boss. Otherswill never evolve.Are there baker worker struggles in France? An organization, union or not?There are unions. The strongest are those linked to industry, who allowgrouping. It's easier to regroup. In particular, there were quite a fewstrikes in the factories of the industrial bakery company Neuhauser (3).The CGT bakery Paris and Marseille have quite a few members. I don'tknow what their action is. There are quite a few things.You are unionized, could you tell us why?I needed a safety net. I packed three boxes and experienced threeharassments. I need to tell myself that there is an organization thereif it happens again. I know that I would not improve all my workingconditions but only small things. Just protect myself.Afterwards, I also do things with Solidaires locally, that's my activistside. The health system is failing, the education system is failing,exploitation is everywhere. What am I going to do if there is no longera health system when I will die from my job if I cannot take care ofmyself? We must fight against all discrimination, in all aspects of ourlives.You went on strike several times during the movement against pensionreform, how did it go with the company?On the one hand it suited the management, because, as production inschools was less important, one less salary to pay was practical. On theother hand, I was made to understand that I was idle, privileged, thatit was going to have to stop at some point. I didn't have to be tired,because I had had a lot of fun, even though I came home at 9-10 p.m.from the demonstration, working the next day.Comments collected by zygNotes(1) Neighborhood bakeries or small structures like the one where M.works come under the collective agreement for artisanal bakeries asopposed to that for industrial bakeries.(2) The demonstration concerned the increase in the price of energy,especially that of electricity, at the call of several collectivesincluding the Collective for the survival of bakeries and crafts, andbrought together other craftsmen and small bosses (hairdressers,plumbers, etc.).(3) Since 2021, Neuhauser has belonged to a gigantic union group ofagricultural cooperatives (InVivo, which the boss wants to make becomean "Airbus of agriculture"), and notably supplies large-scaledistribution. Between 2020 and 2022, several strike movements took placeover working conditions, wages, against union repression, etc.Alternative bakeriesIn your opinion, what can we expect from "alternative" bakeryinitiatives like the Conquest of Pain or the International Mobile Bakery(IBM)?La Conquête du Pain is a SCOP (1) located in Montreuil. The SCOPinitiative, in itself, is good. Giving capital to employees, so thatthey can organize themselves regarding their salary, their workingconditions, theoretically it is a good thing. But it's theoretical. Evenin self-management, we find discrimination, exploitation, powerissues... And sometimes it's even worse because you exploit yourself,supposedly for a good cause.The IBM (2) is a good idea or for launching an inexpensive bakerybecause a mobile oven doesn't cost much, and there are areas in Francewithout a baker. And to do organic or local, it can be interesting. Butthey are very anti-machines for environmental reasons. But I wantmachines, I don't want to break my back. I started younger, I saw myparents wear out. Socially, it's not really working class...Notes(1) Founded in 2010, La Conquête du Pain is a self-managed organicbakery opened in September 2010 in Montreuil, under the status of aWorkers' Cooperative Production Company. The founders, partly activists,claim to be libertarian communism and self-management. Hourly wages areequal and decisions taken in general meetings.(2) The Internationale Boulangère Mobile is a network of activist bakerswho have mobile and easily dismantled installations to set up a bakeryin various places, particularly during activist events, in order tosupply those present with bread.P.-S.An interview with two bakery workers was done by the show L'Actualitédes Struggles, it completes this series of articles very well. It isavailable online heretitle attached documentsdocument info (SVG - 80.4 KB)http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article3962_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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