INTERVIEW
Will employees of mass retailers follow the strike call launched by the CGT since Friday morning and for the whole weekend of Easter? The union intends to denounce a "real social haemorrhage" in this sector, with 30,000 jobs eliminated since 2014.
For Tahar Khelladi, member of the CGT Carrefour coordination in Illzach, near Mulhouse, it is a question of mobilizing the employees of these retailers as much as possible on Saturday and Sunday, he defends on Europe 1.
A wide audience concerned this weekend?
Friday, the strike has been little followed in stores Auchan, Carrefour, Leclerc and other retail chains. Will mobilization strengthen on Saturday and Sunday? "A lot of people come to the supermarkets on weekends and an extremely large population will come to our stores," believes Tahar Khelladi.
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And for good reason: according to him, "the model of the big distribution did not live", whereas the smallest surfaces multiply, in the cities in particular. "Less than five years ago, according to the figures of the directions, the French came on average 50 times a year in hypermarkets.Today, it is still 49 times a year.This model still exists and remains acclaimed by citizens, "says the union leader.
The automatic crates pointed out
The fact remains that hypermarkets have been transformed in recent years: automation and digitization have invaded the stores and upset consumer habits. A process that participates, according to the representative of the CGT, the "dehumanization of living places" that are these stores.
Above all, these transformations are not without consequences on employment, recalls Tahar Khelladi: "Studies have shown that automatic pay machines are much slower and above all less reliable than human beings," he continues. "For this reason, we consider that the new technologies must improve the lives of workers, but in no case remove jobs, without consideration for customers, who will not pay less for its products." Hence a mobilization that the union hopes mass, to alert as much the consumers as the signs themselves.