This year, Laurent Bidart innovated. To try to find seasonal workers at the approach of a dense period for the sector, this oyster farmer installed for three generations in the port of Meyran, in Gujan-Mestras, produced a small advertising spot extolling the merits of his company. A video posted on the various social networks of the company. The ace. Despite “A few touches” Following the sharing of his video, no solid application has allowed him to form a team yet. Over ten days – from December 17 to 23, then from December 26 to 28 – the oyster farmer will need, like every year, “Twenty, twenty-five or even thirty” workers to strengthen his team.
However, orders for mass distribution are completed. Between 100 to 150 tonnes of oysters will have to be ready soon. So, to ensure his rear, Laurent Bidart shut down the oyster farm he also owns in the bay of Paimpol, in Brittany, and asked “Five or six employees over there to come and give us a hand during the big holiday week”. In front of his warehouse in the Arcachon basin where his employees are busy, he wonders about this labor shortage. “Until now, that was not a problem, we had young people, but now, I don’t know where they are”, he laments.
“More offers”, more choice
To put all the chances on his side, Laurent Bidart called on the Group of Employers in Maritime Trades (GE2M) in Gujan-Mestras. But its director, Hélène Bieniaszewski, does not hide the difficulties she is encountering. “I have the impression that there are more offers, so the candidates finally have a choice. I receive very motivated profiles, but if during the interview I do not have the contract for them to sign, two or three days later, by the time I find the right cabin where to place them, they are no longer available. “
No special qualification is however necessary for these seasonal jobs, explains Mr.me Bieniaszewski, otherwise a good physical condition for tasks of “Handling, sorting, packaging, sizing”.
The profile of candidates has also changed, analyzes the director of GE2M. “In the past, there was a pool of workers in oyster farming, I have the impression that it is now very small. The people I meet with today have never touched an oyster or know very little about this environment. “ In particular, wages and the cost of housing. “Regarding compensation, I don’t have a lot of leeway. We were slightly above the minimum wage, until its revaluation last October. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2022 salaries will be revalued by branch agreement, I hope that we will return to the historical situation ”, aspires Hélène Bieniaszewski. As for housing, Thierry Lafon, president of the Arcachon Aquitaine regional shellfish farming committee, underlines a “Mismatch between need and supply. It is an aggravating factor ”. Year after year, he says, it is more and more difficult to recruit seasonal workers in the Arcachon basin but, there, “We climbed a step again”.