Thierry Marx has somewhat abandoned his piano as a great starred chef to throw himself into the political arena: in October, he took the presidency of the Union of Trades and Industries of the Hotel Industry (UMIH) to defend a sector which is still not recovered from the haemorrhage of employees linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. With his face as a former paratrooper – that he was in Lebanon – and his soft voice, he says things bluntly. His fight today is the “rapid regularization” many undocumented foreigners working in important activities for the French economy.
“Deficiencies”
Old claim of his union, he reiterates it in an interview at Sunday newspaper of December 4. Mr. Marx estimates that there are two hundred thousand unfilled positions in the kitchen and dining room in the catering industry, an identical situation in the hotel industry for service, cleaning or reception. “These staff shortages prevent the development of the activity”whereas “needs will increase”he warns.
To his surprise, these activities are not on the list of “shortage jobs”, where undocumented workers will soon be able to benefit from a residence permit. ” specific “one of the key measures of the immigration bill submitted to Parliament in early 2023.
This list, created in 2008, will be updated according to the job market. Employees will no longer have to apply for a new work permit if they change employer. The government says it wants to do work “the first place for the integration of foreigners”. The hotel and restaurant industry is not the only one to resort to illegal immigrants, often present in France for many years with their families. They also occupy jobs shunned by the French in personal services, construction, agricultural work, cleanliness or logistics.
To the far right and part of the right, who denounce a “call for air” migration, Mr. Marx recalls that one in five employees in his sector comes from elsewhere. The head of state, Emmanuel Macron, drives the point home, Sunday, in Le Parisien-Today in Francewanting to be “lucid” : number of professions would not work without immigration. This long history dates back to the end of the 19e century, when the rural exodus did not prevent Italians and Poles from coming to work in French mines and factories. Since then, it has continued to rewrite itself.