Sitting in camping chairs and on plastic canisters, they raise their arms and shout ” thank you ! » when a bus driver or firefighters honk their horn in support as they pass their picket set up near the entrance to the Campanile hotel in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine) and the nearby Première Classe hotel , which have the same staff. “Wage mistreatment”, “Non-respect of working conditions”, can we read on their banner.
It is chambermaids, laundry workers, general-purpose employees, etc., i.e. twenty-four striking employees out of sixty-five, according to the CGT (20% to 30% of the workforce, according to management), who are present. six days a week, since… May 26. A movement launched by the CGT-Prestigious and Economic Hotels (CGT-HPE) and coordinated with the strikers of two other establishments of the Louvre Hotels group: the Campanile de Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine) and the Golden Tulip Villa Massalia in Marseille .
No negotiations are in progress. “We feel that we are considered less than nothing”, denounces Ali Djoumoi, elected CGT-HPE to the social and economic committee (CSE), in Suresnes. In 2012, a 28-day strike led to the internalization of cleaning workers employed by a subcontractor, which spread to other hotels.
“I only stop when I’m in too much pain”
Tuesday, July 19, the strikers of the three sites organize a rally in front of the Campanile La Villette, in Paris, to ” to show [leur] strength and [leur] solidarity”, but also bail out their “ strike fund », says Fouad Slimani, CGT-HPE union representative at the central CSE of Louvre Hotels. Rachel Kéké, the Nupes deputy and ex-CGT-HPE striker at the Ibis Batignolles hotel in Paris, is expected there.
Laura Benoumechiara, Human Resources Director of Louvre Hotels, talks about “a minority strike in the group”, which has nearly two hundred establishments. Their flagship claim: a salary increase of 300 euros net, carried by the CGT at the national level, as well as a seniority bonus and better coverage of sick leave.
“Some employees who suffer from back pain do not take their sick leave, because daily allowances are often paid fifteen days or a month late”underlines an employee of the Campanile de Gennevilliers. “Four years ago, while pulling the big bags of dirty towels, I tore my hip muscle, testifies a laundry. The doctor had offered me a stop, which I refused. I only stop when I’m in too much pain. » A colleague, first chambermaid (she can replace the governess) has, she, “a diabetes problem with insulin. The doctor wanted to stop me because I was very tired, my blood pressure was too high. I refused, remembering that in 2019, when I was hospitalized for three weeks, I had no money to pay the rent afterwards. I had to ask for help. »
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