WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, OCL CA #335 - Pay insubordination 335 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 

We will begin this section with international struggles. Not always
victorious, but always enlightening. In France, the struggles of
employees also continue, to the point that it is impossible for us to
cite them all. At the salary level, unifying demands are lacking:
indexation of salaries and pensions to inflation and a uniform increase
(+ EUR300 for example). These demands would certainly not call
capitalism into question, but they would have the merit of unifying
struggles which remain isolated.
The movement demanding better wages, which brought the textile industry
to a halt for three weeks, was unsuccessful. Almost no Western clients
have encouraged their suppliers to pay workers decently. If pressure
could have been exerted in the countries of the ordering parties, the
situation would not have been the same. This is an avenue of work for
internationalist trade unionism.

Three weeks ago, at the end of October, faced with the company's refusal
to sign the collective agreement for its employees, 130 dissatisfied
mechanics laid down their tools and went on strike.
It was from that moment on that the movement spread. Other professions
are rebelling, such as dealers, who stop offering Teslas as demand
explodes, transporters who refuse to load them on their trucks or even
dock workers who do not want to take them off boats. Since November 17,
all the country's ports have been blocked, electricians have stopped
repairing the 213 charging stations, the Stockholm taxi company has
stopped its purchases of Tesla cars and a supplier of aluminum profiles
has suspended its contract. Even postmen have joined the dance and no
longer deliver mail intended for the company.
This chain of solidarity is explained by the existence of collective
agreements, which are negotiated between unions and employers and which
form the basis of the Swedish labor market model. They are untouchable
and nearly 90% of employees are protected by these texts which guarantee
minimum wages and supervised working conditions. Tesla mechanics cannot
benefit from it and Elon Musk's firm has never wanted to sign one until
now. A matter of principle!

On October 30, the manufacturer General Motors (GM), like its
competitors Ford and Stellantis a few days before it, concluded an
agreement in principle with the United Auto Worker (UAW) General Motors
union. At the height of the strike, 45,000 of the 146,000 members of
this union working for what Americans call the "Big Three" stopped work.
The salaries of employees of the Big Three would increase more in the
next five years (+25%) than they increased between 2001 and 2022 (+23%).
But the agreements contain much more.
The first of the Big Three to have cracked was Ford. The agreement the
automaker reached with the UAW on October 29 served as a model for
subsequent agreements with GM and Stellantis. It provides for a 25%
general wage increase by April 2028, bringing the highest wages to
around $42 an hour, according to the union. The increase amounts to 11%
upon ratification, followed by three annual increases of 3%, before a
final increase of 5% in 2028. This is approximately a 6% increase per
year, but this is not not everything: the UAW also negotiated increases
linked to the cost of living, suspended in 2009. They should ensure that
inflation does not erase wage gains and drive total increases to around 33%.
One of the other issues of this automobile strike in the United States
was the end of "tiered wage arrangements", also called "multi-level
arrangements". An agreement that divides auto workers into two
categories, based on when they were hired, and keeps new hires at lower
wages. Thanks to the strike, these arrangements were eliminated at
several Ford plants, but not all. At GM and Stellantis, the information
has not yet been communicated.
At several Ford plants, for example, newly arrived workers who currently
start at $16.67 an hour will soon be reclassified as permanent, allowing
them to earn at least $24.91 an hour. Thus, if general salary increases
reach 25%, for these employees specifically, they are much higher.
Likewise, the UAW obtained a particularly significant increase in the
salaries of temporary workers, since it is estimated at 150% by April 2028.
The UAW negotiated the extension of the framework agreement obtained by
the recent strike to electric car factories.
On the other hand, the union did not obtain the 32-hour week, which was
one of its demands. Employees of the Big Three will remain at 40 hours.
It has also failed to restore for all employees the traditional defined
benefit pension plan and retiree health care which applies to workers
hired before 2007. (Source: reportsdeforce.fr)

The Screen Actors Guild welcomed the agreement reached with Hollywood
studios after a long historic strike. The union specifically obtained a
7% minimum wage increase and a new fund of $40 million per year intended
to return part of the proceeds from successful productions to actors.
But the main part of the agreement proposes new restrictions on the use
of artificial intelligence (AI), one of the key demands of the strikers.

 From now on, an actor must receive the same salary for the use of his
digital replica as he would have earned by carrying out the same "amount
of work" himself.
As for extras, "no digital replica can be used to avoid the
participation and payment of a second-rate actor".
Studios must obtain the consent of an actor or their beneficiaries for
each use of their digital replica. And the contract must provide a
"reasonably precise description" of how that replica will be used.
AI was a "decisive element" in the negotiations, the new regulations
also aim to support, beyond the actors, many professions in the
entertainment industry. In a virtual world, there is no longer a need
for hair and makeup artists, drivers, set builders.

The filming of "HPI", "Déter" and other series interrupted by
technicians' strikes. Audiovisual production technicians are angry.
According to their unions, they have lost 20% of their purchasing power
since 2007.
According to the Union of Professionals in the Audiovisual and Cinema
Industries CGT (SPIAC-CGT), 56 film and post-production teams voted for
strikes and walkouts. A general assembly decided to renew the strike. In
total, 10,000 to 15,000 technicians are affected. "They have seen their
working conditions deteriorate, working hours have exploded with the
arrival of digital platforms, and they remain faced with equal job
insecurity," according to a press release.

Employees of the Thau basin dialysis center (Hérault) voted on October
17 to end the strike, after five days of mobilization. They asked for an
increase in their meal vouchers from 7 to 9 euros, the enhancement of
seniority, an increase in salary, and the return of the 13th month. They
won their case for the meal vouchers and an end-of-year bonus of
EUR1,000 net. For the rest, we will have to wait for the next annual
negotiations.

At the end of an eighth day of walkout in two weeks (followed by 80% of
production agents on October 24), negotiations on wages ended in failure
at the Class Tractor factory in Le Mans. Failing to have obtained the 7%
increase requested, the employees promise future actions.

This is the end of a historic strike at Constructions Industrielles René
Lenglet in Marquise in Pas-de-Calais. The first strike in 93
years!!...After 6 days of conflict, the CGT signed an agreement with
management.
Employees obtained a salary increase of 3.50% on November 1 as well as
an increase in the home/work travel bonus of 10% on November 1 and an
additional 5% on April 1, 2024. Workshop and maintenance receive a
monthly covering bonus of EUR52 gross on November 1st.

Nearly 80 employees of the Schaal chocolate factory in Geispolsheim
(Alsace) took part in a strike at the Schaal chocolate factory to demand
in particular an increase in salaries and better working conditions.
The Schaal company has not had a social movement within it since 2007.
The company's 200 employees saw their salaries increase by 125 euros per
month, following the latest salary negotiations last May, compared to
250 euros initially requested. They are therefore asking for a new
increase of 50 euros per month, to cope with inflation, but also for
better working conditions. "You should know that there is a lot of
manual conditioning, therefore repetitive gestures, everything related
to musculoskeletal problems and we also have a lot of noise," explains
an activist.

The management team received the strikers to only propose a buyout of "5
days of RTT", according to a machine operator in the coating workshop:
"We work 39 hours a week, with many repetitive actions , we need to
rest. This response did not please the employees at all," she explained.

It has been almost 60 days since the employees of the Onet cleaning
company at the Montpellier University Hospital have been on strike. They
are asking, among other things, for the implementation of a 13th month
and a 5% increase in their salaries. Management offered them an
end-of-year bonus and a 3% increase, insufficient for the strikers.
Since then, negotiations have been at a standstill.

Employees of the Compagnie de Remorquage Maritime de Sète (CRMS) on
strike on October 23. Responsible for maneuvering large ships in the
port, they intend to block the entry of boats into the port of Sète to
make their voice heard. The strike is called by the CGT, which expects
90% of strikers.
"It's generally fed up," confides the CGT general secretary of the CRMS.
"We don't stop, we're tired. We work day and night. We have no hangar or
changing room. We are asking for a salary increase and bonuses. We love
our work, but we would also like to have more recognition."

Since November 6, all Vedettes Tropicales (Martinique) shuttle rotations
have been suspended due to the right of withdrawal of some of the staff.
Employees denounce difficult working conditions in particular.
For a week, not a maritime shuttle has sailed between Fort-de-France,
Trois-Îlets and Case-Pilote.

At the end of a final negotiation meeting on October 23, the management
and unions of Nestlé Waters seem to have reached an agreement which
would make it possible to avoid any redundancies on the 171 positions
which must be eliminated on the Vittel and Contrexéville.
After two months of mobilization, two months of strikes, numerous
meetings, the management of Nestlé Waters seems to have moved the cursor
regarding the end of careers. More than a hundred employees would be
affected by pre-retirement schemes as part of the plan to eliminate 171
positions out of 721.
If we add internal mobility. The objective of 30 voluntary departures is
achievable according to the unions. At the worst of the negotiations,
they feared around 80 outright layoffs.

More than 70 employees of Indexia (ex-SFAM) at the Roanne site denounce
the management's methods and accuse it of disguised economic dismissals.
They went, together, to submit their file to the Industrial Tribunal.

The 125 employees of Marelli Automotive Lightening in
Saint-Julien-du-Sault (Yonne) have gone on strike again for an
indefinite period. They are currently negotiating the "job protection
plan" which should lead to the closure of the factory specializing in
the manufacture of car headlights.
"This is our last strike", indicates the CFTC delegate, "from now on we
have nothing more to lose".

Nearly a hundred employees of SPL Estival (company in charge of public
transport in the six municipalities of Cirest - Reunion) have been on
strike since November 13, causing disruptions on municipal bus lines. of
the Cirest. The inter-union, which had boycotted the last CSE, is
opposed to the social plan and is demanding a bailout of the company.
The message could not be clearer on the strikers' signs: "We are not the
ones who are screwed up, stolen, squandered. It's not up to us to be
fired." For striking employees, a bailout of the company is possible
with the support of the intercommunity or the Region.

Pompidou Center / Beaubourg Paris
After a month of strike, the unions were received at the Ministry of
Culture. Interview that yielded nothing. The Center Pompidou must
gradually close from 2025 for renovations. Agents must be redeployed to
three sites: Grand Palais, a collection storage center and a new
Creation and conservation center. The strike was massively renewed, due
to the lack of a memorandum of understanding that guarantees the future
of employees and missions and non-outsourcing.

Salary Insubordination 11/19/23
insubordinationsalariale@protonmail.com

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4032
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