Two and a half years after a nine-month conflict that resulted in the regularization of 27 undocumented employees who worked for Chronopost in Alfortville (Val-de-Marne) and 47 from other companies who came to join the picket line, the history repeats itself.
In front of the Chronopost agency in Alfortville, around twenty undocumented migrants who worked there, joined by dozens of others, have been picketing day and night since December 7, 2021. Another, of about 80 people, including about sixty workers from DPD (Dynamic Parcel Distribution), is located in front of the site of this other subsidiary of the La Poste group., in Coudray-Montceaux (Essonne), since November 8, 2021. Their claim: to obtain their regularization.
Most of the time, these workers used aliases (they borrow the papers of a family member or an acquaintance in good standing, often subject to the payment of a sum of money) to obtain interim assignments, in particular at Derichebourg Intérim. “Most of the DPD undocumented migrants have worked for several months, even two years for some, with temporary contracts being renewed from one week to the next”, explains Giorgio Stassi, secretary of SUD-PTT Essonne.
“I don’t want to be treated like a slave anymore”
Despite the cold and the rain, despite the absence of positive signs on their possible regularization, they remain on the spot between two demonstrations, sleeping in makeshift shelters, on the sidewalk. “I no longer want to work without papers. I don’t want to be treated like a slave anymore. I want my rights explains Aboubacar Dembélé, a 29-year-old Malian, who unloaded the parcel trucks at Chronopost from March 2020 to December 2021. They are supported by the SUD-PTT and Solidaires unions, by the Collective of Undocumented Workers of Vitry-sur- Seine (Val-de-Marne) as well as by several parties and organisations.
Mr. Dembélé tells what his daily life was like. “On Mondays, I was called in just for an hour, from 5:45 a.m. to 6:45 a.m., he recalls. Sknowing that it took me two and a half hours to get there. » Then, from Tuesday to Saturday, he worked “from 1 a.m., or 2 a.m., or 3 a.m., until 7:30 a.m.”. Salary : “From 700 to 800 euros. » He had to unload packages from trucks, sort them, put them on carts, then put them on conveyor belts. All in constant stress. “The chief was always on my back, repeating: ‘Come on, come on’. says Mr. Dembélé. There was an emergency stop button on the mats in case we got overwhelmed. » But operating it is risky. “I pressed once. The next day, I received an end-of-mission text message. »
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