Ihe seventy-two strikers from the Vertbaudet factory in Marquette-lez-Lille (North), mainly women, are on strike for the first time in their lives.
“We should have revolted long before”, said one of them World. With wages not reaching 1,500 euros after more than twenty years of seniority, the seventy-two women strikers of Vertbaudet do not understand why the management of the factory categorically refuses to increase their wages. Indeed, what ignited the powder was the wage agreement for 2023 which provides for… 0% wage increase, while inflation reaches record levels.
For sixty-three days, workers at the Vertbaudet shipping warehouse in Marquette-lez-Lille have been on strike. They are demanding an increase in their salary of at least 150 euros net and the hiring of temporary workers.
On May 16, instead of organizing a mediation, the prefecture sent the police to evacuate the picket line. Result: two police custody, a striker assaulted then hospitalized with four days of temporary interruption of work (ITT), six employees summoned for a preliminary interview. The spiral of intimidation and violence was overcome with the ambush of which the CGT union representative fell victim.
His son and his wife threatened
The man, embarked in front of his house, was attacked by several armed men, the latter did not hesitate to threaten his son and his wife. In 2023 in France, this is what nine weeks of strikes give for a better salary. Once again, the government and employers are standing together against wage labor.
Since then, challenged by the CGT, the Prime Minister has finally undertaken to cease all proceedings against the workers and to guarantee mediation with the management of the company. However, more than sixty days after the start of the strike, management still despises the seventy-two striking employees and refuses any collective wage increase.
This violence and this contempt that the workers of Vertbaudet undergo, thousands of strikers undergo them while they fight against the reform of the pensions, for the increase in wages or for better working conditions. Vertbaudet’s workers are like millions of women, glued to a sticky floor that keeps them in devalued and underpaid jobs because of sexist management.
Their strike highlights a central issue. How, without a dignified salary, to make life choices, leave your spouse if you wish and be able to feed your children? How to be free without economic independence?
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