To mark the start of their third week of strike, the 67 employees of the electric cell manufacturer Pommier will parade through the streets of Bagnères-de-Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées), Tuesday June 14, before, Wednesday, going by bus at the group’s headquarters in Cahors, “to make noise” : they demand a salary increase of 5%, the maintenance of the holiday bonus of 400 euros and an increase in the packed lunch allowance.
“I don’t go out anymore. I no longer go to the beautician or the hairdresser. And I haven’t set foot in the sand for two yearssummarizes Claude de Haro, editor at Pommier and divorced mother of three children. I earn 1,400 euros net, seniority included, but 1,000 euros go to fixed charges. I have to pick vegetables from my parents’ vegetable garden. I am “Jo la débrouille” because here, we work more to earn less and we never have anything. »
As at Pommier, mobilizations hatch in France every week for wage increases. Worn by unions of all labels, they affect SMEs to multinationals, all sectors of activity combined. Let us mention at random, recently, the strikes at the flooring specialist Gerflor, the perfumer Marionnaud, the energy company RTE, the insurer AG2R La Mondiale or the road works specialist Eurovia…
“No particular dynamic” for bonuses
While inflation in France reached 5.2% over one year in May, its highest level for thirty-seven years, the latest figures from Dares, the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor, indicate that in the first quarter, the basic monthly salary index had increased by only 2.3% over one year.
A stall between wages and rising prices which does not seem to be compensated by exceptional purchasing power bonuses (PEPA), notes the Alpha Group, a consulting firm in social relations. “With 379 PEPA agreements in our databases in the first quarter, we are in the same levels as in 2021says Antoine Rémond, head of the studies & data center. So there is no particular dynamic. No more in the sums granted, of 496 euros on average, while the government indicates that they were 506 euros in 2021.
Unsurprisingly, this discrepancy causes discontent and, occasionally, mobilizations, which are difficult to quantify. In charge of studies at the Alpha Group’s studies & data center, Alice Rustique notes, however, that while since 2018, on average, around fifty salary agreements (out of several thousand) mentioned a conflicting context, this number doubled in the first quarter. 2022. Little hint of the present “conflict”.
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